Darker Seasons
by Cassandra
Summary: When Josef becomes a target for an old enemy the only way to get to him is through Mick. And the only way to get to Mick is through a very mortal Beth. I welcome reviews and proper criticism, not flames. Hope you enjoy!
1. One Dark Night

**Author:** Cassandra for: Moonlight 

**Disclaimers:** The characters of Moonlight do not belong to me at all. Only taking them out for a fanfic test drive. I promise to return them when I'm done. I don't need the entire Moonlight fan community hunting me down for wanting to keep Mick St. John…

**Rating:** R/M (Just to be safe. Have I ever written something _not_ rated M or R?)

**Timeline:** Up to Sleeping Beauty although I don't plan on involving the Morgaline (Morgan/Coraline) storyline.

* * *

**Darker Seasons**

_In all the world and all its riches  
__You and I have made it through the night  
__We will survive.  
__**The Great Divide – The Kin**_

* * *

**Prologue – One Dark Night:**

He knew, just looking over the side, he already knew it was going to be disastrous. He quickly looked over his shoulder once more, his eyes scanning the roof he had come from, wondering frantically whether he should even have taken this route. The building beside him was just as ominous in the darkness, the path ahead just as treacherous. He would make it, of that he knew.

But she would not.

"Mick," she whispered and her voice was just as panicked, just as frantic. And as he looked at her, his blue eyes sweeping her face he felt coldness settle on him at the paleness to her skin. She was scared. He had told himself long ago that he would never let her feel fear again and now it was touching her features and it angered him.

The bruises surrounding her mouth and eye infuriated him.

She drew closer, reaching out thoughtlessly to him and he took her hand without a thought of his own. Always natural for him to be near her, to be within reach. Her hand was cold in the brisk night and while he felt the cold he was unaffected.

She was icy to the touch.

"I can't make that," she said to him in a faint breath, her eyes darting over the edge of the building to the ground five stories below. "I can't make that, Mick, I can't make that-"

"I know, I know," he said to her quickly, drawing her closer and shushing her murmurs. "I know you can't. But we need to go this way."

She was already shaking her head, her lips parting. "It's too far down, I can't-"

"You can," he said to her and he lifted his other hand to her face, wanting to quiet her once more, needing her to hear him and understand him. "We don't have time, listen to what I'm about to tell you-"

"Mick-" she whispered nonetheless and she did fall silent, her eyes flying to his face, her expression coming close to crumbling.

He nodded to her slowly as she hushed, training his eyes on hers and comforting her with the mere gaze. "When we do this I'm either going to dislocate or break an arm. Which means you-" and he silenced her soft protests, his thumb sweeping across her lower lip, gingerly avoiding the bruise there, fingers curling toward her neck gently. "You have to hold on to me because I'm not going to be able to hold on to you. Do you understand?"

She didn't reply, her face pinching.

"Beth, do you understand?" he repeated, staring at her intently from a distance of mere inches. "Do you get what I'm telling you?"

She inhaled and as she did so he became aware of the fine trembling running through her then. His hands tightened, the one holding her hand and the other hovering over her jaw.

"Yes," she murmured mutely.

He nodded once more, fighting the trembling that threatened to take over him as well. His eyes darted back the way they had come and just as he did so he heard a door burst open, locks snapping and metal literally bending. He grimaced inwardly and dragged his eyes back to her as she threw a frantic look over her shoulder, her blond hair flying in the light of the moon.

She was beautiful. Even in fear.

"Come on," he ordered and he took a step onto the edge of the roof, his eyes traveling down the five stories to the ground below. He could see in darkness, even the dimly lit darkness of the street below and he took in the horizontal flag pole three stories down, took in and instantly measured the distance once more. Looking back toward her quickly he drew her close yet again, his jaw clenching as she made a small sound upon stepping onto the edge.

"Just tell me what to do," she said to him faintly, her eyes trained on him, only him in the perpetual darkness of the night.

He pulled her against him, reaching down for her other hand and she allowed him, her lips parting once more as she was suddenly molded to his frame, as he lifted both her hands and linked them around his neck. And the question flew through his head, unbidden, uncalled for.

"Do you-" he whispered after a heartbeat of a moment.

"I trust you," she breathed, gazing at him.

And in that eternity of a moment he wanted to kiss her. He realized dimly that it was the single most absurd thing he could possibly want then but it was what he suddenly desperately needed. He lifted his hand to her face once more, staring at her achingly, his lips parting to speak.

She held herself rigid as if waiting.

He hesitated, hearing them coming, smelling them and sensing their fury. He wound an arm around her waist, allowed it to settle there as if it belonged there. As if it had always belonged there. And she waited still, her face upturned to his.

With a rueful inward chuckle at himself, he grasped the senselessness of his thoughts. His blue eyes focused on hers once more, aware of the complete dilation of her irises in the darkness, aware that her eyes dilated the same way whenever he came close to her. Now they dilated in fear, in panic. And if they lived through this he would kill every single vampire that had ever caused her to fear, that had ever put her through this to begin with. His jaw clenched wordlessly, his arm unconsciously tightening around her waist. "This is nothing," he said to her, meaning for it to come out lighthearted, to comfort her.

And her lips pressed into a solid line, her expression finally giving way as tears rose in her eyes. "This is everything," she replied, and she ducked her head against his collar, her arms tightening around his neck, her frame molding to his.

He lifted his gaze up blindly, staring over her shoulder achingly, barely seeing their pursuers in the far distance. She was right. This was everything.

With that last thought, his arm rigid against her waist, he lifted her against his frame, her legs instantly rising and winding around his waist, dragging his body to hers as if meaning to unite them. He felt her fear, felt her trust and his eyes drifted closed, inhaling her scent, her natural human scent and hovering in it.

And without another word, with barely another thought, he took a step back and fell.

* * *


	2. The One Constant

**Chapter One – The One Constant:

* * *

**

_I met you at __St. John's__ Cathedral down on __Amsterdam_

_Made a trade with the devil and he gave me your hand._

_In Your Arms - The Last Goodnight

* * *

_

Mick St. John was not one to oversleep. Nor overdo his drink. Unless it had to do with the living fluid of humans. In that case he was very much a drinker. But today he had both overslept and had too much alcohol to drink. Not in that order since the latter almost always led to the former. Nonetheless, as he came awake from a nap nearing the early hours of morning he became aware that he had not flushed all the alcohol from his system yet.

So when he woke up he was still a bit intoxicated. He stared up into the dark room, cold streams of air drifting around his naked form. Reaching out slowly he pushed open the glass lid of his bed, allowing the coldness to siphon out silently.

With a quiet sigh he sat up and looked about, searching the room he had slept in. Dark and empty. Which was just the way he wanted it at that moment. If he'd had to awaken to bright lights and the everyday sounds of the world around him he was just about positive it would not have had a good effect on his intoxication.

He would have to remind himself to thank Josef the next time he was paid a visit.

Rising, he let himself out of the cold container and resealed it wordlessly. His fangs were coming out a bit which meant it was time for a small snack. Reaching out he pulled on some clothes he had left to the side, dressing himself absentmindedly. He would guess it was no later than one in the morning. That meant he could look into a few cases he had open, place all his focus on them and do some investigating without interruption. He crossed from his bedchamber out onto the main floor of his apartment, scanning the dimly lit rooms before changing direction and heading for his kitchen. Still on his kitchen counter were the dirty glasses he had used earlier and he still detected Josef's scent lingering in the apartment. At least he'd been in the right frame of mind earlier to clean up the bloody aspect of their night. Josef had brought a bottle of a new concoction created by some associates who also had a taste for blood and wine. Between the two of them they had finished off the entire bottle. After the wine they'd had some brandy and now only those used glasses were in evidence. He swept them up and placed them in the sink. He would get to them when he had a moment. A moment that wasn't this one.

Sliding a bit he helped himself to some stored blood he kept hidden in a refrigerated closet, reaching in for the large needle as well. His teeth were indenting his bottom lip at the mere sight of the bag of blood. Taking the items with him he floated over toward his living room and had set them down on the coffee table when he noticed movement to the side, toward the door. He glanced up at the small screen beside his door, receiving the image from the camera he had stationed right outside his apartment and caught a glimpse of blond waves before someone knocked.

Mick frowned. It was after midnight. He glanced about for his cell phone, saw it on the kitchen counter and realized he had missed a few calls. Which probably meant she had tried to get in contact with him and, upon not reaching him, had just decided to stop by and pay him a visit. He looked about for the remote to the security locks and couldn't even find that. Perhaps he was finally getting old.

The knock came again and he decided to open up manually, striding to the door but pausing to look toward his visitor reflected in the camera screen beside him.

If he had to describe Beth Turner he would say she was a classic beauty. Wavy blond hair, big blue eyes and mischief emanating from every part of her. He smiled faintly as he observed her, leaning against the door and content with merely gazing at her.

Beth Turner was the one constant in his life now besides Josef. Which said a lot since before Beth, Josef had been the only constant for decades. Other than Coraline. And he didn't want to think about her again.

"Hey! Open up already! I know you're in there!" And that was Beth's voice coming from outside, bringing him back to the present.

He stood up straight, pulling away from the door and opened it, letting it swish open silently. "Well, well. Look what the cat dragged in."

She arched a brow at him, one hand on her hip as she stood facing him. "Do you know what a cell phone is?" she demanded in mock irritation.

"I do," he replied and then asked pointedly, "Do you know what time it is?"

She pursed her lips. "Like you really care what time it is," she said and she brushed past him, entering his apartment and already pulling her bag from her shoulder.

"Sure, Beth. Come on in. Make yourself at home. Can I get you something to drink?" he counted off as he closed the door behind her and turned to join her in the main room slowly. "Nice of you to visit but isn't it your bedtime?"

Setting down her handbag she waved her cell phone at him, another jab at the fact that he had a cell phone himself. Her expression clearly said, _"See? This is a cell phone. Take an internal picture for your archives."_

He merely arched his brows at her, arms crossing over his chest, an impish smile curling his lips.

"You know I'm an intrepid reporter. I sleep about as much as you do," she answered and then she tossed her phone into her bag and faced him once more.

"So?" he prodded.

"So!" she cried. "Where have you been? It's all over the news!"

"What is?"

Beth rested her hands on her hips. "Are you serious? Do you really not know what I'm referring to?" And the question came out more like a statement. Her eyes scanned the living room and then caught sight of the edges of the glasses in the sink. "How much have you had to drink?" And then, eyes widening, "And with who?"

"I love that you're so perceptive. And so inquisitive. Such a reporter," he sighed and he wound around her and plopped down on the couch, exhaling lazily. "Josef was by earlier. We had some drinks. And some more drinks. And now I have dishes. That's how life is."

"Life is drinks and dirty dishes?" Beth asked him with a wrinkle of confusion to her forehead.

Mick hesitated. "Actually there's more to life than that. I hope." And he tilted his head back to look up at her, lifting his legs and propping them on the coffee table. "So to what do I owe the pleasure?"

Beth came forward a bit and also seated herself, sitting on the very edge of the couch excitedly, her body facing him. "There's been a murder. Another one," she said to him and her eyes shimmered in the dim light of the living room lamps.

Mick stared at her, eyes a bit narrowed, lips parted. "You're very worked up about it. A bit too excited," he mused with a bit of warning in his tone. "What did you leave out of that sentence?"

He would not have put it past her then to have giggled. Instead she leaned forward and said in a conspiratorial whisper, "Drained of blood."

Mick felt his heart tighten up just a bit. "I see."

"And," she quickly added, sliding even closer to him and she caught the small movement he made as she did so, the quick flutter of his eyes as they darted down toward her knees then back up to meet her gaze. "With the addition of a vampire bite on the neck. Of course."

"Of course," he murmured absentmindedly, seeing right through her for a moment as he reflected on that last piece of information.

"Aren't there rules about you hiding these kinds of things?" she asked him.

He arched a brow, coming back to her. "I didn't do this."

She threw him a look. "Not _you,_ you. I mean you as in _vampires._"

He returned the exasperated look. "Of course there are rules, Beth. But just because there are rules doesn't mean all vampires follow them. There are rules for regular people. Not all of you follow those," he pointed out. And he exhaled. "Besides. I'm sure this will be handled before you know it. Some people have to be called in. End of story."

"_Beginning_ of story. Beginning of _juicy_ story," she disagreed. "They think this one is connected with the other murders, like the Fleming murder." And she raised her eyebrows as if to say, _"Neat, huh?"_

"The murders of the businessmen?" Mick asked with a frown. "The MO is…well, the MOs were all different in every murder so you can't even be sure those murders themselves were connected. But a vampire bite is very different from every murder committed in that group." He shook his head, grimacing. "I don't think-"

"I do," Beth cut him off. "Very much so. Anyway, I just got back from the latest crime scene. That's why I was calling you, I wanted you to come down and see it yourself, see what you can sniff out of it." And she wiggled her eyebrows once more at him in conclusion.

Her gestures were endearing, he mused, chucking inwardly.

"We can always go check out the body in the morgue," he said finally and she smiled at him at the suggestion.

"Right. Because we don't normally do that."

Mick shrugged at that. "Well, things get boring when all you do is go to a morgue. What's a date supposed to think when all they see are dead bodies?" He shook his head as if the mere thought was preposterous.

"Date?'

His eyes shifted toward her for a moment in confusion before he realized that he had indeed just said that. And the moment was suddenly strained. His lips parted to explain that he hadn't meant to say that, that he had meant to say something entirely different but had he? He hesitated, drowning the moment in awkwardness.

And then she said, "Fine, a date. Whatever. Just check it out for me." And as an afterthought, "please."

He paused, gazing at her for a long silent moment.

Beth arched an eyebrow at him. And he knew what she said with the gesture.

_We both know there's more to this but I'm leaving the ball in your court. Whenever you're ready just tell me. And I'll handle the rest on my side._

"I'll look into it," he offered her with a careful look.

And she broke into a smile. "That's all I ask."

* * *


	3. A Cold Visit in the Night

**Chapter Two – A Cold Visit in the Night:

* * *

**

_I wanna sleep but there are nightmares when I try_

_The birds are circling_

_I__ know the reasons why__…_

_Scream – Kill Hannah

* * *

_

Upon placing a hand on the corpse's chest, a sudden image assaulted Mick St. John. He closed his eyes and breathed in deeply, automatically flinching away from the vision. But it was a mess of images. He had no choice but to hold on and try to understand what flew past him.

Definitely a vampire. But he sensed that the corpse had not been his intended victim. He had been searching for someone else and upon realizing that this person was not the correct target the murderer had flown into a rage and desecrated the body, had taken his pleasant and sweet time mutilating the body. Mick's eyes flew open, nausea rising in his stomach.

Something was not right with the person committing the crimes.

Mick pulled his hand back and frowned, hesitating. He didn't want to go back to Beth with the little information he had but there was nothing else he could get from the corpse. He stared at the bite marks on the corpse's neck, frowning faintly. Definitely a vampire bite. The mortals would pass it off as a mere accident with a barbecue fork, perhaps. Mick reached out and placed the pads of his fingers just below the bites, leaning in a bit to observe them.

"Tell me you have something good."

He had no idea why he jumped. His senses should have told him there was someone close by. If not stressing _mortal _then at least stressing _Beth._ But he had dropped his guard in examining the body and now he would have to tell her everything. And nothing. For he had discovered nothing in the corpse.

"Shouldn't you be asleep…somewhere?" he asked her as he glanced over his shoulder toward the blonde behind him.

Beth shrugged behind him, arching her head to look over his hunched shoulder at the corpse on the cold slab. "Probably. But Josh is out of town for the next few days." She lifted her hands and made the quotations gesture. "Official DA business."

Mick stared at her. "You need Josh to sleep?"

She stared right back. "You said asleep _somewhere_. I'm going to take that to mean somewhere other than my home. So if I'm going to be sleeping somewhere other than my home the only other logical place would be Josh's." And she arched a brow at him, lowering her hands at her sides once more.

Mick straightened, the corner of his lips twisting wryly. "I was actually referring to the time. Usually humans are asleep at this time of night." He tapped his wrist as if a watch circled it. And then the hand dropped away, leaving the corpse's neck. "Definitely vampire."

"Hungry vampire?" Beth questioned, looking past him once more.

He moved out of the way for her. "Aren't they all?" he countered. And he frowned, continuing, "but he was angry, too. Really angry about…this not being the right person."

Beth paused, hand half way to reaching the corpse's wounds. "So not so much hungry vampire as deliberate murder?" she asked, eyes sweeping back up to meet his.

Mick nodded wordlessly.

"Who was he looking for?" she asked, her voice dropping to a hush.

He stared at her. "I don't know. How would I know that?" he asked her in confusion.

Beth cocked her head. "You do that…smell thing," she replied. And she threw him a look. "Oh, c'mon. Like I wouldn't notice you do that. You do it all the time before you suddenly get your brilliant insights into crimes." And she finally touched the corpse where Mick had previously examined it.

Mick shook his head, searching for the proper words. "They're flashes," he said, almost sounding indignant. "Smell thing…"

Beth smiled as he muttered under his breath, leaning toward the body.

"Anyway," he went on. "I didn't get anything else from him. Only that this wasn't the right person. And he was originally looking for a vampire. Once he realized his victim was human he fed on him." His eyes swept up and down the corpse. "And mutilated him."

Beth nodded absentmindedly. "All these wounds, those gashes…they almost look like a wild animal got to him."

Mick was rigid, his face dark as she cast him a quick look. "He was definitely a wild animal."

Beth paused before getting back to examining the body.

Turning away from the corpse, Mick frowned once more thoughtfully. "He was found awfully quickly. By a human, right?"

"Yep." Beth glanced at his back questioningly. "How do you know?"

Mick looked at her over his shoulder. "Because there's a dead body on the slab, Beth," he quipped sardonically. And as she opened her mouth, no doubt to berate him, he added, "If a vampire had found him the body would have been reported to The Cleaner and would have been taken care of before anyone else had gotten to it. The fact that the body is there tells us that the vampire had no problem broadcasting. I'd even say he _wants_ people to know about him."

Beth was slow to speak. "Proud?"

"Arrogant," Mick corrected. "That or…busy."

"Busy," Beth stated in confusion.

Mick grimaced. The word hadn't been the correct one to describe the killer. "There was a feeling to the vision, like he was hard pressed for time. But he took his time to pick this guy apart. It felt like once he was done feeding and killing him then he was suddenly in a rush again. In search of the person he had confused him with." He shook his head. "It doesn't make sense in my own head, never mind."

Beth shrugged. "It makes sense." She straightened once more, leaning her hip against the slab. "So, his name is Jonathan Bradley. Stock broker." She crossed her arms over her chest, balancing her bag against her side. "He had just gotten out of work, guess he had decided to fit in some over time when he got attacked."

Mick was barely listening. "Who are all these people being confused for?" he murmured, staring blindly at the far wall.

Beth tilted her head. "So now you think they are all connected?" she asked.

He didn't reply to that. "He's looking for a vampire."

"But all the victims are human. Can he really be that bad at telling a human from a vampire?" Beth waved her hand at him to get his attention once more but he had turned away yet again, now pacing a bit.

"Not all the victims were human," Mick replied.

Beth came to a stop. "Uh, yes they were."

Mick looked at her. "No, they weren't," he disagreed. "The bodies that were _found_ were human. Those that the Cleaner took care of were mostly vampires. There were a few of those also. I joked with Josef about watching his back and to stop pissing people off before they came after him next."

Beth glanced down at the body beside her. "So he's after a vampire?" She wrinkled her nose a bit at the corpse. "And I guess this guy was just in the wrong place at the wrong time?"

"Isn't that usually how it is?" Mick suddenly paused in mid-step and cocked his head a bit, waiting. And then he looked toward Beth, mind working furiously, looking as if he wanted to say something quickly. Instead he merely came to stand beside her, looking down at the corpse as Beth stared at him quizzically.

"What? What's wrong with you-"

A dark-skinned young man appeared at the doorway, caught halfway through a wave at Mick before catching sight of Beth. "Uh, hey there, Mick. What are you doing here?"

Mick nodded toward the young man and then placed a hand on Beth's shoulder. "Terrance, this is Beth. Beth, Terrance." And as Beth smiled awkwardly at the morgue attendant, Mick quickly said, "We got a whiff of the dead body, I thought there was something weird to it so I came down to check it out. We'll be out of your hair in no time."

The morgue attendant nodded slowly at his words, his eyes straying and still caught on Beth.

"Where's Guillermo, by the way?" Mick asked, forcing an absentminded tone.

Terrance cocked his head, blinking toward Mick for a moment. "Day off." And he hesitated, looking as if he wanted to say more before merely clamping his mouth shut. "Well, I'll be around if you need me. Nice to meet you," he said toward Beth and she waved slightly at him.

With one last knowing but cautious look at Mick the attendant left, striding down the cold hallway silently.

Beth instantly turned on Mick. "Is he-"

"Yes," he replied just as quickly. "Let's get out of here now. The less people know that you know, the better. In both our cases." And he took firm hold of her elbow, squelching her small sound of disdain and whisked her out of the morgue.

* * *

"Ok, so not all humans, not all vampires but definitely all dead," Beth mused over a mug of coffee. She stretched out a bit in her seat, leveling her gaze at him.

Across the table, seated in a small comfy diner, Mick nodded. "The weird thing is, this guy feels old."

"Old," Beth stated. "Old as in, _you_ old or _Josef_ old?"

"Old as in older than Josef," he replied. And he cocked his head. "Are my wrinkles showing?"

Beth smiled at him teasingly, her eyes shining. Mick returned the smile for a small moment, leaning forward in the seat and then casting his gaze down at the tabletop. She watched his gesture, her smile faltering a bit and silently she reached out.

For a moment Mick held still, seeing her hand in his line of sight but refusing to move. And then he found himself exhaling as her hand instead went to her mug and wrapped around it as if cold. Tapping his fingers a bit he straightened once more, head bowed.

Would he have wanted it? Yes. He would have wanted to feel her hand on his. To feel some kind of warmth even if the actual temperature meant nothing to him. Just a touch. Smiling inward ruefully, he sighed and said, "How is Josh?"

Beth's smile fell away completely at that, looking as if he had taken her off guard with the question. "Oh. Josh. He's good. Josh is good." And as a low afterthought she added, "I think."

Mick looked at her at that. "You think?"

She hesitated, glancing down at her mug of coffee a moment before her eyes swept back up to him uncomfortably. "Ok, well I haven't actually _seen_ Josh…in…a few weeks," she stammered. "I tried calling him a few times and I guess he's been busy but I haven't actually been able to reach him for about two days." And she added quickly, "but I've been busy too so I'm not putting all the blame on him."

Mick gave her a lopsided smile. "Too busy playing Nancy Drew?" he asked her.

She smiled back faintly. "You know it," she said with a small laugh and she looked down at her coffee mug which she now batted around absentmindedly. "Do you know anyone we could ask? In the vampire…_community_? Someone who might know this guy?"

Mick stared at her. "And how would you like me to ask the vampires I do know?" he asked curiously. "Hey guys, there's a ruthless murderer running around town, he's a vampire, any of you know him?"

She threw him a look. "Well, how else would you propose we find this guy?"

"We?" Mick asked her, sounding close to disbelieving. "When did this become a case for us and not the proper authorities?"

Beth's face twisted in a way that was almost comical to Mick. "Proper authorities?" she asked in a hiss. "Mick, we _are_ the proper authorities! We're so proper I'm getting an English accent just sitting here!" Her fingers tightened around the mug of coffee before her as she leaned forward and Mick found himself content to merely smile faintly at her, gazing at her cheeks as they flushed up. "If someone has to handle this it has to be us. Has to be."

Mick looked over toward the counter at the waitress as she huffed, his smile widening to flash teeth. "Aren't you the slightest bit worried about this vampire? This very old, very ruthless vampire I keep getting images of? Even a little?"

"The very old, very ruthless vampire you keep smelling, you mean?" she asked delicately.

"Visions, Beth. Visions," he corrected her politely.

Beth promptly rolled her eyes. "Visions," she stated after him cheekily. "And no. I'm not worried. That's why I have you around for these things." And she arched her brows at him, lifting her coffee to her lips.

Mick watched her take the drink of coffee, eyes passing over her lips for a long moment before looking away as she lowered the mug from her mouth. "Well, either way, it's getting late. For both of us. You especially. So how about I drop you off at home and tomorrow we'll meet up to go at this case again. Does that sound good to you, Ms. Reporter?"

Beth wrinkled her nose at him with a cute smile. "Doesn't that sound nice? Ms. Reporter? I think that sounds great." And she motioned to the waitress for the check.

* * *


	4. The Midnight Club

**Chapter Three – The ****Midnight**** Club:

* * *

**

_I am outside_

_And I've been waiting for the sun._

_With my wide eyes_

_I'v__e seen worlds that don't belong._

_We Are Broken - Paramore

* * *

_

Josef Konstantin was a tall, slender man of no more than mid-twenties, by looks alone. Mick knew better, of course. But at times that the truth escaped him, all he really needed was to hear his voice and search the young man's face and it was there in his expression. Josef Konstantin was hundreds of years old. And rich enough to look down on everyone, mortals and vampires alike.

"Mick. Looking good for someone I left completely drunk. But at least your Miami Vice days are behind us." Josef reached out as Mick came close, taking hold of the younger vampire's jacket collar and fixing it slightly with a sharp tug. "Impeccable. Love it."

Mick threw him a wry smile as he paused by his friend's desk and as he was released he plopped into a chair on the opposite side, glancing up at his friend who merely hesitated before him.

Lifting his head to look toward his main door, the corner of his mouth twisting, Josef fixed his suit jacket and said, "Right," before winding around his desk and sitting in his own chair. "To what do I owe the pleasure? My time is money."

Mick smiled once more. "No wonder you're filthy rich," he stated.

"Filthy being the operative word," Josef glanced down at his desk and then rolled his eyes away from the paperwork to be found there. "I'm already looking forward to lunch."

"Thought you loved your job," Mick argued with a frown.

"I love the perks," his friend replied. And he reached to his phone and pressed a button.

"Yes, Mr. Konstantin," came the sultry voice over the line as his assistant picked up.

"Candace, it's that time again," Josef said and abruptly cut off the line, looking bored with the entire world. "Snack, Mick? Or have you already…eaten?' He snapped his teeth at Mick playfully.

"None for me, thanks. Trying to cut down on…" And as the door opened he glanced over his shoulder toward a woman who could only be Candace, sashaying into the room as if she owned it. "…lovely brunettes."

Josef threw him a look as the woman smiled at Mick and rounded the desk to stand before Josef. "Yes, I'm aware. Your diet these days consists of blondes." Josef glanced up at the woman as she gazed down at him and extended her slender arm to him, easily seating herself on the edge of his desk. He shook his head slightly, taking the woman's other hand and pulling her back to her feet. "Very rude of you," he said to her and she pouted a bit at him but then Josef pushed away from his desk and instead tugged for her to sit on his lap. "We don't want to give Mick the wrong impression."

Candace glanced at Mick as she sat and mouthed_, "I'm sorry,"_ prettily at him as if he were next in line.

"I have to teach these new girls everything it seems," Josef sighed.

And Mick waited with a small smile as Josef fed. He had to admit, other than feeding on Beth several months earlier, he had not fed on anyone in a long time. And even the incident where he had been forced to feed on Beth had been enough trauma for him. And her, no doubt even though they acted as if everything was all right. He had no intention of ever doing it again. Or ever letting himself get to that point of weakness again.

But there were times when he missed the rush of feeding on a live person, of tasting warm blood and allowing it to stream down his throat and coat it thickly. And he hated to admit that sometimes he even missed the chase for that fluid.

He was a different person now.

He had left Beth after the diner and had not gone home to rest after that. He had no doubt he would tire soon but Beth had just about been dead on her feet. After dropping her off at home he had run a few errands, namely picking up some more blood for himself and then dropping it off at his home before coming in to see Josef.

Candace was rising off Josef's lap and she hesitated a moment as Josef lapped up the remaining trail of blood and then kissed her wrist before releasing her hand.

"She's going to get a raise for that, I'm sure," Mick said cheekily to Josef as the woman smiled at her boss, trailed an alluring look over Mick and then excused herself out the door.

"Out of most people," Josef said with a lingering look after his assistant. And then he turned his full attention back on Mick. "So what's up, Mick? I'm sure you have some pressing matters on your mind to come all the way here to visit with me. And I'm sure money isn't the issue, it never is with you." He shuffled the papers on his desk a bit, threw a distasteful look at his cell phone as if debating making a call and then quickly looked away. "How is…what is her name again? Bess?"

Mick shook his head at him in mock disbelief. "Anything to not say her name," he mused.

"It's a very…human name…" Josef said thoughtfully. "Bess. Reminds me of…a cow I may have owned once."

"It's Beth. And she isn't a cow."

"Absolutely not. She's much more attractive than a cow. In fact, if you ever lose interest in her…"

"I didn't think this is why I came to see you. I could be completely mistaken…" Mick murmured in slight confusion.

"No, you definitely came to talk about her. In fact, I can smell her on you. Her very human scent. Which leads me to believe you have yet to turn her. Where are your priorities these days?" Josef seemed bored but Mick knew better. Any talk of Beth was of interest to Josef the way a woman ate up soap operas. He devoured any news in Mick's life voraciously.

"My priorities…" Mick began, "are in order. Let's face it, Josef, you and I…we don't exactly see eye to eye on certain things."

"You see eye to eye. I see fang to neck. So how is the lovely Beth?"

Mick motioned to him as proof that he did indeed know her proper name. "Thank you, Josef."

"Absolutely, my friend."

With another wry smile and sigh Mick said, "Beth is fine. She asked about you on the way out of the morgue."

"The morgue," Josef hissed, the word rolling off his tongue as if it had insulted him. "Is that a fascination of hers? Or yours?" His expression darkened a bit. "Very few women appreciate those kinds of dates, Mick. They tend to like fine wines and expensive dinners. A fireplace with a roaring fire. Someone to…_cuddle_…with." And that word came out distastefully as well.

"Josef, do you even know what cuddle means?"

His friend threw him a look. "Mick, I'm older than you by quite a bit. I created the word cuddle and promptly berated myself for doing so once the typical woman caught on to it." His lips lifted away a bit to display sharp canines that had yet to shrink even after his feeding.

"So we have you to thank?"

"Believe me, Mick. I've already paid for my sins. Torch-bearing mobs and all."

"And you were a cuddle person?" Mick refused to let it go. "Isn't that just..." He shrugged, shaking his head with a widening smile, hands meeting in a temple on his lap. "Adorable."

"Yes. Lovely." Josef did not seem amused. "So your wonderful friend asked about me. Isn't that delightful. I can now _die._" He swiveled about in his chair for a moment, head falling back and looking up at the high ceiling. "You know, Mick…"

"Yes, Josef?"

The older vampire spun once more, one last lazy circle before sliding to a stop, the back of the chair facing Mick who waited curiously. "Our earlier talk…" His hand waved, a seemingly disembodied limb as Josef was still hidden from Mick by the chair.

"Which talk?"

There came a small hesitation. "What I said earlier…about your priorities concerning Beth."

Mick stared dumbly at the back of Josef's chair. "Josef, that was two minutes ago."

"Which is why I said earlier, Mick." Josef sounded exasperated. He spun around forcefully, meeting Mick head on and his fangs had finally shrunk down to be covered by his lips. "I'm saying it…well, for _me,_ really. I don't want to see you moping about one day when she dies on you because of her silly little mortality issue. You've gone so far as to introduce her to our little world, you may as well induct her into the club as well."

Mick was slow in responding. "I just finished telling her there _was_ no club…" he murmured.

Josef merely stared at him, looking decisively bored once more.

Mick flashed him a smile. "Josef, are you too old to remember what a joke is?" And without waiting for a response he glanced away, squirming a bit in his seat. "There are no plans to _induct_ her into the club, Josef. I don't want her to be immortal."

Josef did not reply to that, seemingly content with merely staring at his friend in silence.

Mick glanced at him. "Say what you're going to say already," he prompted.

Josef smiled. "You don't want to hear what I'm going to say, Mick. Not that it bothers me, what you think. Well, that's a lie, it bothers me but I try not to show it."

Mick chuckled quietly.

"But." And that seemed to be his sentence for a long while, the one word. The older vampire looked toward the sun streaming in through his windows, perhaps mulling over how to best say what he wanted to say. "I think…Coraline is in the past. And that kind of love was…dangerous. More dangerous than even finding out that vampires exist. Your thing with her…" he shook his head. "Disastrous. So it's time to get out there and find someone else."

Mick glanced down at his cell as it suddenly went off.

"Perfect example," Josef said, motioning to the cell as Mick pulled it out and he swiveled in his chair once more, facing away.

Mick answered the phone.

"Mick, hey. Sorry to bother you. But you need to see this," Beth's voice came over the phone hurriedly.

"See what?" Mick asked and he was already rising, straightening his jacket once more.

"Another body. Come down to BuzzWire." And with that Beth hung up.

Mick slowly lowered his cell phone from his ear, a frown crossing his face. Another corpse already? He glanced toward Josef, opening his mouth to speak.

"Go on," Josef waved him away. "But remember, Mick." And he turned a bit in his chair, his expression knowing. "She won't be around for you forever."

Mick didn't want to say it but he managed to force an easy smile, nodding to his friend as he turned to leave. "Let's hope not." And as he left through the door he mused inwardly.

_I don't want her wasting her life waiting for me.

* * *

_


	5. Mistaken

**Chapter Four – Mistaken: **

* * *

_Ladies and gentlemen please  
Would you bring your attention to me?  
For a feast for your eyes to see  
An explosion of catastrophe…_

_Ladies and Gentlemen - Saliva_

* * *

"So?"

Beth took hold of his arm as he breezed into BuzzWire. The place was a bit busy that day but Beth was not one to be deterred when she had something to say, no matter who she had to say it to. Winding her arms through his she dragged him over to her desk and plopped him down in a chair, quickly dragging her own close to his and hunching forward.

Mick leaned forward as well, interested.

"Carl told me to get lost before I managed any kind of good shots but there was another body and this one is worse than the last one, Mick. Way worse." Beth's blue eyes were wide and slightly worried.

Mick frowned at her in confusion. "What do you mean? What is it?"

"Human," she said slowly.

"Or so you think," Mick replied to that. "Torn up again?"

Beth nodded wordlessly.

"Then let's check it out. Where is it being held?" And he paused, smiling impishly. "Is this another visit to our favorite place? Twice in one day?"

Beth also smiled, already reaching over her desk for her bag. "Where else would we ever go?"

* * *

"Hey, wait a sec!" Beth cried as she rounded the corner and slid into the room where the body was being held. Someone had beaten her to it, a few people in fact, and were loading the body onto a gurney to wheel it out. "Where are you taking it?"

Two men straightened away from the body to look toward Beth and from the corner of the room, surprising Beth, came a woman dressed entirely in black, long hair pulled back tightly from her face.

"Where are you going with it?" Beth demanded. And she instantly scrambled in her bag and pulled out her BuzzWire credentials, flashing it as if it was a police badge.

"Who are you?" the woman asked her nonetheless and Beth felt the color drain from her face as she got a distinct feeling from the woman that screamed _Vampire_. Beth took a step back and rammed into Mick who floated in and gave the unfamiliar woman a small smile.

"Fancy meeting you here," he said.

The woman's face remained a bit stony but the beginnings of a smile curled the corners of her lips. "Mick St. John. Of course. Who else?" she asked quietly, shaking her head.

Mick placed a hand on Beth's shoulder. "Beth, this is who we all like to call The Cleaner." And he looked toward the statuesque woman before him and motioned. "This is Beth."

The Cleaner looked Beth up and down momentarily, giving her a slow nod before looking toward Mick. "This is our job, Mick," she stated.

"I just want to look at it, for a second," Mick said to her and he wound around her, pausing beside the body and looking down at it. "What were you going to do with it? Burn it after the police already had it in custody?"

The Cleaner turned to face him and her expression was wary but almost tantalizing. "You know I don't discuss business," she said to him shortly. And her eyes sidled over to Beth once more who flushed a bit. "Especially in front of…them. I just do what I'm told by the one who solicits my services."

Mick threw her a sidelong glance before looking down at the body and inhaling deeply. The breath was cut short as an image hit him and he immediately followed it for all he was worth, trying to decipher faces and voices, visions.

The same person. Now even angrier than before. Still mistaken. He had torn into his victim upon realizing he was mortal. Had fed from him wrathfully.

_Who are you looking for?_

The man's body had convulsed at having his throat ripped out, had flailed like a fish out of water before settling into silence and death. And still the killer had broken him, slashed him into threads in fury, amber eyes wild yet unseeing. And upon finishing with him he had sat down with the body on the ground in the street and all around it had been dark. The killer had done two in one night. And had fed until he had been drunk off the blood. He had sat there, licking the blood from his fingers, sucking them clean before pulling out a cell phone and calmly calling a number.

_"Wrong one. You keep giving me the wrong information."_

And a name came up as he spoke to the other person over cell. One name that made him straighten and that forced him out of the vision like a boot in the ass.

_"Konstantin."_

Looking toward the Cleaner, he instead caught sight of Beth in the peripheral and turned to her. "Josef," he managed to make out. "We need to go."

Beth frowned and barely managed one word to the Cleaner as Mick grabbed her and pushed her out of the morgue ahead of her. Over his shoulder the Cleaner merely looked after them before shaking her head and ordering her men to continue once more.

* * *

"What is it?" Beth demanded as they finally stopped outside. Mick had parked down the block but she had refused to go another step once she had been dragged several feet. "What did you see?"

"They're after Josef," Mick said to her tightly. "Who ever these people are, they're looking for Josef and not to throw him a party." His hand tightened once more on her elbow and he began to drag her again.

Beth dug her feet in, bringing him to a stop effectively. "Uh, here's a thought. Call him and at least let him know before you burst into his office and throw a fit." And she motioned with her own cell phone in hand.

"Fine. If I call, you're driving."

* * *

The Cleaner waited in silence as one of her men slowly zipped up the corpse in a black body bag, her arms crossed over her chest. This was taking longer than usual but she had nowhere else to be at the moment. Other than this job here everything seemed fine in the city today. The night would be a different story but she had someone coming in to relieve her in a few hours so she could have a bit of a rest. Two murders in one night. She had come in earlier to dispose of the first body after having received her orders. The cleanup had been hours late unfortunately, for the humans had become aware of that body. But this one, while still late, was well ahead of schedule. Now she just had to make it to the incinerator to get rid of all traces.

She caught an unfamiliar scent in the air but even as she was turning to look she was already too late. A hand clamped down on her neck as she spun around and tightened immediately, causing her to choke for a moment. And then she was lifted clear off the floor, her hands lifting to pry at the fingers wrapped around her neck.

One of her men came forward and the shadow holding her turned on him and sliced a hand through the air silently.

Wordlessly, her crew member fell away as his head was torn cleanly from his body, the head thumping to the floor and rolling away. The other man hesitated in approaching, his jaw falling open and a moment later the shadow was upon him too, taking hold of him by the neck and dragging him forward like a doll, never once releasing her in the process. Her crew member went, choking and gasping and the shadow lifted him also, flinging him over the gurney and against the wall with enough strength to punch a hole in it. The vampire's body crumpled like a balled up piece of paper and then slipped to the floor with a soft thud.

The Cleaner made a small sound as the shadow turned to her and she caught a small glimpse of blank amber eyes before he turned and flung her as well. Her form crashed across the top of another gurney in the room and slid into the glass wall that connected that room to a file area in the back. The pane smashed under her weight and she flew right through, falling to the dark floor and sliding to a silent stop inside.

The shadow waited for a small moment, waited for movement from the three vampires but none of them stirred. Whirling to the corpse, he unzipped the body bag and reached in without pause, hand brushing the torn flesh and he inhaled, eyes closing.

_"Mick St. John. Of course. Who else?"_

And the vision that sprang to life behind his blind eyes was of a young looking man with a devilish smile on his face. As the young vampire reached toward the body in the vision the shadow realized that the vampire had the same ability he did, to see images. The shadow felt a frown cross his face, exhaling and then inhaling once more, head twisting.

_"This is Beth."_

She was a lovely, mortal thing, the one the younger vampire introduced in the images. Pale skin that flushed with color, with that wonderful life fluid. Wavy thick hair. Holding a form of identification in her hand that read Beth Turner.

_Who are you looking for?_

And that voice that whispered, that came to his mind, it had been a thought. One of the younger vampire's thoughts. The shadow felt as if the one in the vision, the one called Mick had spoken aloud to him, as if he stood right beside him in the very same room and had asked him right then. But he was alone in the room. Only in this moment could he connect with the young vampire and read him, read his thoughts. Only then. And he saw the vision that Mick had seen of _him_, in a strange twist, a vision within a vision or a picture of a picture. His thoughts, what he saw and his emotions. And the one name that had forced the vision to close and spurred the young vampire into action.

_"Konstantin."_

_Josef,"_ the vampire had said almost frantically. And he had taken hold of the girl, Beth, and had pulled her along with him.

The shadow nodded as he understood and he released the body, straightened away and reached for his cell phone. Dialing the familiar number he waited and as his contact answered he said quietly, "Change of plan. Mick St. John. He will lead us to Konstantin. Find him."

* * *


	6. Putting the Affairs In Order

**Chapter Five – Putting the Affairs in Order:**

* * *

_Something's always coming _

_You can hear it in the ground.  
It swells into the air  
With the rising, rising sound.  
And never comes but shakes the boards _

_and rattles all the doors.  
What are we waiting for?_

_Believe – **The Bravery**_

* * *

"Mick," Josef said once more, hands lifting at his sides as his friend burst into his office. And his eyes strayed to Beth who was pulled in after him by the wrist. "And friend. Of course. Lovely to see you by the way."

Beth glanced at Mick warily, finally having been released and she settled awkwardly behind him as the vampire marched forward to meet his friend.

"What's up?" Josef asked, a small frown crossing his face as Mick came up to him.

"Someone is after you. All these murders over the last few weeks, they're hunting _you_ down," Mick hissed at him softly, leaning into his friend.

Josef hesitated, staring down at the floor for a moment before lifting his gaze to look at his friend. "What are you talking about?" he asked him quietly, turning his head as Mick gave him a look and he followed his friend, turning to watch him as the younger vampire stormed past him to pause by his windows.

Beth came in a bit, looking for all the world as if she didn't want to even be there, and Josef glanced at her for a response. "Well," she began breathlessly, uncertain even where to begin. "Mick had one of his…flashes…and saw something concerning you so-"

"They're after you," Mick said from the window, and he observed all the people below in the streets, surveyed the buildings and skyscrapers around them critically. "Who the hell did you piss off this time?"

Josef's jaw clenched, motioning distractedly. "Who the hell _haven't_ I pissed off?" he demanded curtly. "What the hell is going _on?"_

Beth came forward another tentative step, eyes straying from Mick to Josef and back again. "All these murders occurring lately. They're after you. They've been going after mostly stock market…" and she faltered, looking for the proper word, _"people._ They've been looking for brokers, I guess. Maybe they know what field you work in, I'm not really sure, but they've been after you the whole time, I think…"

Josef stared at her for a moment, eyes hooded. "Thank you for that…detailed observation," he said to her with a sardonic tone to his voice and he turned toward Mick, gesturing. "Do you want to make sense out of any of that?"

Mick threw him a glare, poised by the window as if something was about to crash through it to do them all in. "The murders that have been going on lately," he said to him bitingly. "All those stock brokers who were found. One of them was found drained the other day and mutilated. They were after you, Josef. So who the hell did you piss off to do that much damage to a mortal?"

Josef looked about as if he couldn't believe the incident in itself. "Mick, you know me better than that. I piss everyone off. And I really don't care. So stop staring out my damn window and pay attention!" he ordered and Mick pulled away from the window, the corner of his lips turning down in impatience. "How do you know they're after me?"

"Because I saw it," Mick replied, motioning to his head. "They're after you and this guy, the one looking…he means business, Josef. He's…" Mick shook his head. "He's cold, man."

Beth blinked as Josef snapped at Mick. "Cold? That's the best you can give me? He's _cold?_" he demanded. "From the murders in the paper even _I_ can tell you he's cold."

Mick stared at him, jaw clenching. "You're not hearing me, Josef," he hissed at his friend. He gestured downward furiously, his blue eyes lightening slightly. "He's cold. And _angry._ He doesn't care who he kills or who finds out what he is, he just wants _you._ So do me a _damn_ favor and help me figure out who would want you dead this bad to start killing people, mortal and vampire alike already!"

Josef hesitated, Beth still behind him, her eyes flying from him to Mick warily.

After a moment Josef merely shook his head, arms motioning weakly. "I don't know, Mick," he said quietly. And as Mick turned away in exasperation he added, "I really don't. I mean, I know people have me on their shit list but it's…that's normal! I'm not everyone's friend!"

Beth interrupted, reaching a hand out toward Josef. "No one comes to mind at all? No one?" she asked. "Even from your past? Someone you really pissed off? Because this vampire…" she nodded slowly to alert him to the gravity.

Josef paused in thought. "No one springs to mind that I would have pissed off like that. No one."

Beth looked toward Mick as he whirled on his friend, his face registering the fact that he would not be putting up with anything his friend threw at him. "Are you lying to me, Josef?" he asked him squarely.

Josef looked at him. "No," he stated quietly.

Mick stared back, his jaw firm as he mulled over his friend's sincerity. Beth watched him, caught between going to him to ask him to believe Josef and staying right where she was. She didn't know Josef. She couldn't try to convince Mick of anything concerning him when she couldn't possibly know if he was, in fact, being sincere.

After a moment, Mick sighed wearily and said, "You can't stay here. At all."

Josef opened his mouth to reply, his face registering disbelief.

"You _can't,_" Mick stressed in a firm tone. "You might not want to hear what I'm saying, what I've been saying, but this guy is crazy. If he finds you, he will kill you. I can tell you that. So no," he said as Josef gestured feebly. "You can't stay here. Arrange vacation time. Arrange a leave of absence. Sabbatical. Anything. I don't care. You just can't come here for awhile."

Josef was brimming with anger. "I'm not going to disappear," he growled at Mick and for a moment his eyes flashed pale white. "I'm not going to uproot myself because you tell me that someone is _after_ me-"

"Not someone!" Mick shouted at him angrily. _"Something!_ He's not human! He's a damn _animal_ and I don't want you to stay here, Josef! Do you hear me?"

Josef did hiss at him then, the sound curling out of him like smoke from a cigarette.

"I'm not playing with you, Josef," Mick said warningly. "Don't think for a second you can intimidate me."

Beth was stiff as Josef's growl dwindled away to a mere breath of air.

Mick took a step toward his friend, his anger settling a bit. "Just do me a favor. Stay at my place for a bit. Take a vacation. Two weeks. Do that. And if in two weeks I can't figure out who is after you, you can show up again and then we'll try to trap this guy if he comes after you here, at your office. But take two weeks first."

Josef's frame was stiff, eyes now fully pale in anger but at Mick's softened tone, he lifted his head, shoulders falling slightly.

"It might be for the best," Beth murmured in Mick's defense. "I think two weeks would be a good amount of time for Mick to figure out what's going on. I'll help him go over everything the killer has done, or has left behind. I think two weeks might be perfect."

Josef's head turned toward her slowly, his fangs glinting from the corners of his mouth dangerously and Beth found herself quieting down, her lips parting at his light eyes.

"Two weeks, Josef." Mick ordered. "That's it."

And there was a long moment of silence, a drawn out pause. Beth looked toward Mick wordlessly, not certain that Josef was even interested in what they were saying. But then Josef was exhaling, growling almost in exasperation and the vampire motioned wildly. "Fine! Fine. I'll take a damn vacation."

Mick glanced toward Beth.

"A damn vacation," Josef mumbled, giving up. With a sigh he stormed to his desk, jabbing a button on his phone and opening a drawer in his desk. "Candace!"

"Yes, Mr. Konstantin?" came the husky voice.

Josef hesitated, eyes closing as if he were fighting his very self. "Cancel any meetings I have for the next two _godforsaken_ weeks," he ordered and he jabbed the button again, obviously hanging up on the poor girl.

Beth pursed her lips, realizing that giggling at his very obvious display of impatience was uncalled for.

"I can't _believe-_" he shouted at Mick, who merely arched a brow at him, "that you're making me take a damn vacation!" And he opened his drawers and shoved the paperwork on his desk into it, locking it with a key he pulled from his pocket. "I haven't had a week off in over a decade, Mick! Do you understand that?" he demanded. "A damn _decade!_"

Mick's eyebrow was hitched as far as it would go, needless. "And you're acting like it, too," he said wryly.

Josef straightened to glare at his friend.

With a shake of his head, Mick motioned and circled his desk. "Put your affairs in order. It's only going to be two weeks." And with a glance over his shoulder, Beth at his side, he said, "I'll make up the spare bedroom for you."

Josef made an impatient noise, shoving drawers closed in anger as Mick pulled the door shut behind him and Beth.

* * *

Walking down the long hallway toward the elevator Beth chanced a glance at Mick. "He's not very happy," she stated quietly.

Mick tapped the button for the elevator and then allowed his hands to settle in his jacket pockets. "No. No, he isn't," he sighed in defeat.

Beth's eyebrows lifted at the weariness in his voice. "It's a good thing," she said to him in comfort, a hand reaching out and wrapping around his arm. "It really is. It shows you care for him."

Mick looked down at her hand and then lifted his eyes to her face. "The thing about Josef is he hates being put out. He hates depending on other people and he hates being made uncomfortable. This whole _relocation_ thing bugs him because I'm basically pulling him out of his comfort zone and shoving him into something he's not used to. And that's why he has a bad attitude."

Beth smiled faintly, releasing him and waiting a moment as the doors of the elevator slid open for them. "Well, that's everybody, Mick," she said to him as they stepped into the elevator. "No one wants to be made to be uncomfortable. So you kinda have to put yourself in his shoes, too. You wouldn't be jumping for joy if I demanded you drop everything, P.I. business and all, to move into my apartment for two weeks to put up with me." And she reached past him to tap the button for the lobby.

Mick caught her scent on the air as she did so and nonchalantly straightened, his eyes following her as she pulled back and smiled at him once more.

_Actually…I would be thrilled…_

Bowing his head he shoved the thought from his mind, pushing away her scent as well.

Smile faltering, Beth turned her face away, looking straight ahead and, for some reason, the ride down to the lobby was suddenly uncomfortable. She couldn't explain it. All she knew was he had pulled away from her yet again. And this time she was fairly confused by it all.

"Did I…offend you?" she asked him as the elevator slowly came to a halt.

Mick glanced at her quickly, eyes widening. "Sorry?"

Beth looked awkward as the doors slid open, putting them face to face with strangers who clambered to get on the elevator. She made a small sound as they shoved her a bit but then, through it, she found Mick's hand as he held it out to her and he pulled her out of the mess to leave her on solid ground once more. "I said, did I offend you? Back there? With something I said?"

Mick paused before her, his eyes shifting back toward the elevator in thought. "No. Not at all," he replied. And he turned without another word and floated down the lobby, heading for the doors that would lead them out into the world and her sunset.

Beth followed slowly, her lips parting in question. But as she reached the glass doors that led out she decided not to say anything, instead bowing her head as she caught up to Mick outside.

"I'll drop you off at home," Mick offered her, shielding his face from the sun. "It's getting late."

There was a slight pause as Beth stayed where she stood, Mick rearing up in slight confusion at the expression on her face.

"What?"

Scrunching her face up a bit, hands shoved into her pockets, Beth said reluctantly, "I've been calling Josh all day looking for him. There's something I want to talk to him about but he's not picking up his cell or his home phone."

Mick immediately fought the expression that threatened to break out over his face. "Oh," was all he murmured. And as Beth lifted her head to look at him once more he motioned with a turn of his head, leading her to where he had parked his convertible.

Beth smiled after him and nursed the sudden wound she felt inside her as he led her to his vehicle.

* * *

Stepping from the vehicle Beth shut the door and then leaned in through the window, resting on it. "Do you think it'll be ok? Josef living with you for the next two weeks?" she asked, pulling out her cell phone.

Upon climbing into the car, even with the sun setting, Mick had slipped some shades on and now she couldn't read anything from him through those shades, least of all his expression.

"I'm sure it'll be fine. I've never had to live with him but how bad can he be?" Mick asked rhetorically.

Beth arched a brow at him.

Smiling widely, Mick looked forward once more, a hand tightening on the steering wheel. "It'll be fine, Beth."

She hesitated, her hand trailing across the passenger door thoughtfully as she dialed a number and rested the cell against her ear. "Well, will you let me know if anything happens? Worst comes to worst, I can always make up a room for Josef with me-" And she bit back her words as Mick quickly turned his head to look at her sardonically. "It's just an offer!"

"I think I can handle him," Mick let her know with a raised eyebrow.

But with eyes hidden nonetheless.

Sighing, Beth nodded at him. "Ok. Well do me a favor and call me anyway? Just to make me feel better?" And as he opened his mouth to make a smart remark, "and yes. It's a completely selfish reason. I can be a very selfish person. Get used to it." She hesitated, frowning slightly toward the ground as she straightened.

"Still no answer?" he asked her.

After a hesitant moment she hung up the cell and shrugged, putting it away and then awkwardly sticking her hands in her pockets and scuffing at the ground a bit. "No. But that's…been normal lately," she replied quietly, looking uncomfortable and a bit sad.  
Mick gazed at her, wanting to comfort her for a moment. But it didn't involve him and he felt then that to do so would be…  
_Wrong. On my part._

And so he remained wordless, instead waiting for her patiently. For a wild moment, as she leaned down once more to the window he had a sudden vision of her jumping back into his vehicle, slamming the door shut behind her and gesturing for him to drive. To drive somewhere. Anywhere. He saw it well enough to almost believe it could happen.

Then with a last smile at him, she patted the passenger side door and floated away from his vehicle.

Mick waited until she had let herself into her residence before looking forward once more and pulling away from the curb.

He didn't need to be around to dwell on what her calls to Josh meant.

* * *

Pausing before her door Beth instead brought her head to rest against the wood. The feeling ran through her, the feeling of not wanting to do what she was about to do once she was inside. Her knuckles trembled slightly against the grain of the wood, her head sliding against the surface, and she couldn't make herself do it for a long moment. Couldn't make herself let herself in. She could hear no sound from inside, no movements, but the thought of what waited inside, of what she was about to do when she was able to finally reach him was enough to freeze her.

And then, causing her to rear back in surprise, the door came open slowly and she found herself lifting her head to meet Josh's pained eyes, falling away from the doorway.

He gazed at her for a long silent moment, his lips parted faintly and as she stared at him a humorless chuckle broke from him, a single weary laugh. And he nodded to himself, his head falling, his eyes dragging away from her. "Right," he murmured as he stepped aside for her to enter.

Closing her eyes, she floated past him and was silent as he closed the door behind her.

* * *

Mick didn't sense anything wrong upon setting foot inside his apartment. He allowed the door to slide shut behind him, dropping his remote on the coffee table with a tired sigh. Not bothering to strip off his jacket, he rounded the couch and headed for the kitchen. He was in need of some cold fluid as if it was an alcoholic drink. Something to calm his nerves and set his heart back to a normal pace. Stepping into his kitchen area he merely rested against the side of the sink and allowed it to hold his weight, his frame weary.

It was for the best, he convinced himself once more.

Dragging his tired frame, he retrieved a glass of blood for himself to drink it in the kitchen. He was tired. He hadn't slept since the night before and he hadn't fed in just about twenty four hours. No wonder he was exhausted. He raised the glass to his lips, content to drink slowly, to savor every drop no matter how long it took.

A sudden scent in the air caused him to lower his glass, a frown crossing his face. And then, wordlessly, he ducked, dropping his drink and cursing inwardly as both the glass of the cup and the pane of his window shattered simultaneously. Slipping down to rest on his rear, he glanced to his side, encountering the hard surface of his kitchen island. Scampering low he wound about and rose into a crouch, eyes immediately scanning the floor. A moment later he caught sight of pairs of legs moving and he ducked to his right even as the intruders saw him and then gunfire erupted, forcing Mick to the floor once more. Keeping low, shots biting into the floor at his feet he shoved himself on, sliding toward his staircase and then diving on as the gunfire punched angry holes into the railing. He made it to the pillars surrounding his small coffee table, pressing his back up against it and for a moment he glanced down at it over his shoulder, remembering for a fleeting second that this was where Beth had stood when she had discovered what he was. The look on her face.

From the corner of his eye he caught movement and he lifted his arms, blocking the butt of the weapon that had been swung at him. The weapon bounced off his forearms and a moment later he reached out after it and took it, yanking it toward him.

One of the intruders stumbled forward into him and Mick pulled a fist back, landing it in the man's face angrily. The intruder staggered backward, releasing the weapon and Mick swung it around, latching onto the barrel end and swinging the butt at the man's face. Even as the weapon caught the intruder, a second man reared up behind him and Mick faltered for a second as he was struck in the temple, white light flashing behind his closed eyelids. He also released the weapon, hearing it clatter to the floor and then the intruder behind him had him around the neck, crushing him backward against a hard frame. Gritting his teeth, Mick clamped down onto the man's forearm and he yanked forcefully. The man let out a gurgled sound before finally yelling aloud as his arm went limp in Mick's grip.

"I know," Mick growled at him as he spun to face him and punched him dead in the nose. "Dislocation. Hurts like a bitch."

The man before him crumpled to the floor silently, leaving Mick breathing shallowly in silence. He quickly glanced over his shoulder at the other fallen intruder and hesitated, listening furiously. There had only been two?

As if in answer, he caught sight of movement from his broken window and he whirled to look, eyes narrowing.

One man hung outside his window, suspended from above by what seemed to be thick wire. As Mick took a step in his direction, fangs springing from his mouth, the intruder held two dark objects in each hand and wordlessly he tossed them in through the broken windows. Mick looked down at them, confusion flashing through him before realization set in and with a quick breath he ducked his head and spun away, darting toward his staircase. A second after landing on the fifth step and racing upward the two items exploded, sending a roar of fire and sound through the apartment.


	7. Sunlight to Shade

**Chapter Six – Sunlight to Shade:**

* * *

_We paid the price of darker seasons  
You and I will plant the seeds tonight  
We hold the light_

Oh give me a reason to be loved…

_The Great Divide – The Kin_

* * *

They hadn't even started talking. Upon finding Josh in her apartment after coming home she had put any talk they had been looking to have on hold, instead reaching for the phone and ordering in some Chinese food. She hadn't eaten much all day and she had a feeling she was in for a long evening. Once the food had arrived she had taken one look at it then one look at Josh's face and she had gone for a bottle of wine. She was going to need it to soothe her nerves while saying what she wanted to say. What she had been wanting to say for so long now.

"Not hungry?" Josh asked her quietly, blue eyes darting from her food to the glass of wine in her hand.

And no. She wasn't hungry suddenly. She hesitated by the kitchen island, one hand resting on it close to her take out dish, her eyes slowly inching back in his direction before pausing once more.

"Let's just talk," he said to her softly, setting aside his own food. "Like we used to be able to." He straightened away from his dinner and slid his hands into the pockets of his slacks and she remembered when she used to find that adorable about him. How he could stand there and look like the perfect boyfriend, charming while smiling. But she had also seen him at work and he had been intimidating as a DA.

_I remember going to sleep and you were all I would think about…_

Was that true? When had Mick replaced him in her dreams?

_It's not about Mick._

"Is this about him?" Josh asked her through a haze.

She felt anger course through her for a moment. "This is not about Mick!" she rapped out sharply and she knew, even while saying it, that he didn't deserve her anger. That she had been so busy convincing herself that it wasn't about Mick when it had always been about Mick. Since the very beginning.

It would always be about Mick.

"This is not about Mick," she whispered, lying once more, her eyes focused on nothing. "This is about us."

He shook his head, turning away. "There is no us, Beth."

She raised her head, looking after him with a frown. "What are you talking about?" she asked him faintly. And she waited for him, her hand sliding toward her glass of wine.

Josh continued to shake his head, his hands lifting almost as if a shrug. "I'm talking about coming home and sleeping alone while you're out with him. I'm talking about days of not hearing from you and when I finally go out on a limb and call you you're with him. I'm talking about…" and he turned to look at her, motioning to the floor. "This space between us! Right now! Just standing here, in your living room, it's like you're not even on the same planet!"

Beth took the glass of wine into her hand and took a large swallow.

"This is what I'm talking about, Beth. This moment, right here." He waved at the surrounding area as if they were encased in a bubble. "This moment. This is what it's all riding on. And you're not even here right now. You're not even…" He stared at her, a pained expression crossing his face as she set down the glass of wine. "You're not even here."

"I'm here," she argued quietly. "I'm just not…"

And there it was. In that broken sentence, there it was. That unspoken sentence that had become trapped in her throat. It hovered over them, inside her. That truth. Josh gazed at her, his lips parted on a similar trapped statement, on a wounded emotion. And all they could do was stare at each other in that silence, Beth's face sorrowful, Josh in defeat.

Closing his eyes slowly, he whispered, "I love you."

Beth hesitated. What could she reply to that? What was there to say in the end? She fought the sentence that willed to come out because in that same end, what was there between herself and Mick? Was she throwing away one good relationship for something that was never going to happen? Would she find someone else if Mick didn't want her after it was all ended? Because even if Mick did want her, he would never allow himself to have her. She would always be the little girl he had rescued from his deranged ex-wife. There was nothing between them. There never would be.

"I love you, too…"

_Mick._

But even as she attached the name to the end of the sentence, even as she saw him in her mind, Josh seemed to be way ahead of her.

"Can you say it and mean it to me?" he asked her, not unkindly, his blue eyes falling away heavily. And even as she quickly took a step toward him he was already turning and floating over to one of her armchairs, reaching down. There was a bag there, one she had not seen but a familiar one. An overnight he had packed for those nights he had stayed over with her. Now he lifted it in his hand and then crossed it over his shoulder with an air of finality.

"Josh," she said in a shaky voice.

He threw her a humorless smile over his shoulder, a hand reaching down into his jacket pocket. "It's ok," he said to her. And he took a step toward her, Beth staring at him achingly. Reaching out, he set down a set of keys and she immediately recognized them as the set she had given him six months into their relationship. Her eyes stayed fixed to them as his hand pulled back slowly. And then, coming close to her, he wound that same hand around the back of her neck, pulling her in to place a gentle kiss to her forehead. A long, silent kiss.

Beth went, her eyes closing painfully.

After a moment he pulled away, turning his face from her and without another word he went to the door, pulled it open and slipped out, closing the door shut quietly behind him.

Beth hesitated there, uncertain. And pure emotion forced her to take a step, to reach a hand out toward nothing as tears rose in her eyes. But all that greeted her was the door and she allowed the hand to slowly drift down to her side, the other one supporting her against the kitchen island weakly.

And she stood there in silence, now uncertain where to go and what to do but certain that a bridge had been burned with her still standing on it.

Wearily she seated herself on one of the island seats, swiveling slightly as it took her weight and she dragged the glass of wine close, feeling lost. Lost and alone. What would she do now? With a relationship lost while the other hovered around her tenuously. And why did she continue to consider Mick when he would never allow it?

Why did she consider him at all?

When a knock came at her door she looked up quickly, wondering momentarily if it was Josh and even as she went to it she understood that it wouldn't be. That it wouldn't be Josh ever again. She shook her head as she reached the door and upon opening it her eyes widened in shock.

Mick stood there wearily, smudges of dirt and what seemed to be soot across his cheeks and jaw. "Um, hey," he said to her awkwardly.

"What the hell happened to you?" she cried and she shoved her door open and wrapped an arm through his, pulling him inside. "My God, Mick!"

He allowed her to drag him in and he absentmindedly shut the door with a mindless motion. "I made it home and they showed up like a minute later. I think they were waiting for me," he said to her as she shoved him down into an armchair and then quickly hurried into the kitchen. "They just broke in and I think they blew up my place…"

Beth turned disbelieving eyes on him for a moment before quickly running water and pulling out a glass.

Grimacing, Mick slouched in the chair, lifting a hand to his eyes and rubbing them wearily. As she came around with the glass of water he managed a brief smile. "I guess I look like I got my ass kicked?" he asked her cheerfully.

"It's not funny," Beth stated, causing him to break off in the middle of his smile.

"No," he agreed, taking the glass from her. "I guess not." And he hesitated, freezing in place as she knelt before him and stared at him. "What?"

"You're bleeding and you're cut all over and…damn it, Mick," she said in a quietly mournful tone and she lifted a hand to his face, her thumb running over crisscrossing scrapes that were, even before her eyes, slowly healing on his face.

"Hey," he said to her softly, sitting up and leaning down toward her. "I'm ok. See?" He pressed his hand over hers, trailing her hand over his cheek and jaw. "I'm ok."

She gazed at him wordlessly, her eyes shining.

Mick stared at her for a long moment, lips parting. And then, setting aside the glass of water he instead leaned down and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her against him. "I'm ok. It's fine. Just a little scraped up but still in one piece."

She pressed her face against his neck and nodded mutely, her hands clutching his shirt in tight bunches fearfully. She didn't like this, this uncertainty. It was just one more thing that came between them, the thought that one day he wouldn't be around because of everything he did and everything he was. She feared for him.

With an inward sigh Mick closed his eyes, resting his head against hers as she breathed shallowly, her hands strong in her dread. "I'm sorry to barge in on you like this. You don't have to tend to me. Eat dinner. I just need…to have a place to sit for a bit."

Beth nodded against his shoulder. "You can stay here as long as you need to," she whispered to him, her breath warm through his stained shirt. And even as he meant it as a sign for her to not worry, to release him, she held him still, not ready to let go just yet. And he seemed to understand, his arms loosening but then tightening around her once more, breathing in deeply.

And he breathed in her scent. She smelled like Beth, like the pure human scent that was Beth. She felt warm and soft exactly where she needed to be. And he was not about to lie to himself when he realized that she felt right in his arms. His frame settled where hers ended, as if she was the second part of him. Her breath mingled and became his, their bodies existing, breathing, in unison. He wanted to drag her closer, wanted to embrace her tighter but it wouldn't be enough, he realized. There was a wall there, separating them and it was not solely physical. There was emotion that held them apart yet dragged them together, always within reach but not within contact. He felt at times that if he simply reached out he would encounter her and she would welcome it. But that wall he ran into, it was _his_ wall. He had erected it after so many years.

He had begun to erect it the moment he had held her as a child in his arms, looking over his shoulder at the fire that raged in the room in which he had just fought Coraline. As if he had known that years later he would be in love with the child in his arms. As if he had somehow known. And he'd had a memory, almost as fleeting as a vision in the early dawn of sleep. He remembered escaping it all, the blond child in his arms still and he had lifted his hand, dirtied by blood and soot, and the child had looked at him with those large haunting blue eyes and he had loved her. Had not been in love with her, not then. But he had loved her. With everything he was, he had loved her then. Their love affair had been born there.

Beth pulled away a mere distance of inches, her blue eyes lifting to his, still haunted years later and their lips were parted. They had maintained this distance since she had taken the black crystal, since she had shown up at his home dressed in red and black and offering everything she was. And now that distance was between them once more, the gap that rested between their breaths. Lifting his hand from her he trailed his fingertips along her jaw lightly, resting there, his fingers curling around the nape of her neck, uncertain why he did but knowing he needed to. He needed that touch, that surface under his fingers.

Her hands released his shirt, her fingers sliding down his chest absentmindedly. And even as she gazed at him, as she seemed to bend toward him, she suddenly whispered, "Josh and I broke up."

Ice water. Pure ice water. Mick recoiled from her as if she had thrown a bucket of it on him and in the back of his mind he even seemed to hear the ice cubes as they hit the ground. His eyes shifted from hers down to her lips before him and then back up. "W…what?"

Understanding that she had effectively broken their spell she sat back, her head falling forward, her eyes dropping to her knees under her. "Josh was here. When I got home, he was here."

"Oh." Mick's hand dropped away from her face numbly.

"We…we talked," she went on quickly, her hands falling and settling on his knees and she tried to catch his eyes as he turned his head away, blinking in lost bewilderment. "And he told me that there was space between us, that we couldn't talk anymore the way we used to. And he told me he loved me…"

Mick straightened away from her then, nodding. "You need to talk to him then. I came at a bad time. You should go."

And she stared at him as he tried to get to his feet. Frowning in confusion she almost let him go before her hands clamped down on his knees and he faltered, managing to keep himself lifted off the armchair but not fully standing. "You're not listening," she stated, staring up at him.

"I am," he disagreed. "Loud and clear, trust me-"

But even as he spoke, as he argued, she was rising onto her knees, her hands lifting and grasping his face between her palms. She had done this to him once before, in a blind moment. Had just surrendered to everything she had felt and had just done it, in the BuzzWire parking lot after their case with the escorts. And now she was going to do it again.

Mick's protests died away as she lifted her lips to his, his hands tightening on the armchair and he could do nothing for a slight moment that seemed to last forever. He merely held himself there, positioned awkwardly but feeling at the same time that he had never been in a more perfect place. And then he seated himself once more roughly, effectively breaking the kiss but forcing them to gaze at each other silently.

Beth sat back on her knees slowly, her head lifting to maintain the silent stare, her eyes wide as her hands fell back to his knees.

Mick gazed at her, struck dumb. "Um…" He cocked his head a bit, eyes sliding away. "I…should let you finish."

Beth nodded. "Yes."

Mick nodded as well. "Ok. Go." And he settled awkwardly once more, seeming out of place and uncomfortable in the armchair but uncertain where else to go with her before him physically and mentally blocking all 

exits.

"He told me he loved me," she whispered faintly and Mick met her eyes once more, not wishing to but feeling that he needed to. Her face saddened, her lips parting. "He told me he loved me and I said it back to him but I was saying it to you. As if you could hear me-"

Mick stared at her, his own lips parting.

"Everything he said, it was like I was trying to make it fit what I had with him but it just…it didn't fit anymore. Not with him," she said to him, and a faint blush rose in her cheeks. "I felt something for him in the beginning, I must have. But I don't remember those feelings anymore. And I can usually remember what it felt like, that heady rush you get in the beginning of a relationship but I can't remember it anymore. And then I started wondering if I had ever actually felt anything for him or if I had just been looking for someone, for _something_, that was missing. And then I met you and I remember everything, Mick. I remember…" she looked at him quickly and he was gazing at her, his absolute attention focused on her. "I remember everything I have ever felt for you."

Mick blinked at her.

And he understood. He remembered everything as well. He remembered that heady feeling and he had, in his long life, only gotten that heady feeling once. And he got it from her. Even from Coraline, she had never given rise to that feeling in him. He'd had a schoolboy crush on her and it had been a disaster, his lust for her. Their entire time together had been explosives and flame. But Beth. He felt that rush from her. Whenever he saw her, she made him want to be more. Wanted to be more than what he was, just to be worthy of her. He had tried to be better for Coraline but it had been almost superficial, his attempts. Like an animal trying to prove himself to a mate, to be dominant. That had been him in his Coraline days.

"You make me want to be more," he whispered, realizing a moment later that he had not meant to say it aloud. And he clamped his mouth shut, wishing he could reach out and take it back.

Beth stared at him, her breath held.

_Screw it._

"You do," he whispered, realizing it at the same time. "Everything I do…it's as if I try to be a better person, a better man, for you. And I'm not a man anymore, but I feel as if I keep trying to reach back to that person that I no longer am. I keep…reaching to be that human again. Because he…" Mick shook his head, trying to make sense of it himself. "He meant something. Even if he just wasted his time, wasted his life. He _meant_ something."

"_You _mean something," Beth said to him sadly. "You do-"

"I'm not him anymore, Beth," he went on to her and he reached out, cupping her face. "I'm not him anymore. I can't go back to being him-"

"I don't want you to-" Beth said, trying to cut him off, trying to make him stop.

"You _need _me to," he insisted. "You need someone human. Someone, even a stupid mortal, who doesn't _understand_, you need that person. Not me. I'm not…"

"I need _you_," she whispered.

He closed his eyes, shaking his head. "No. No, you don't. You don't." And he rose finally, her hands slipping from his knees to fall clumsily onto her lap. "I shouldn't have come here. This was a mistake-"

"Don't say that," Beth whispered painfully, her eyes falling shut miserably. "Don't say that-"

"It was," Mick murmured, more to himself than her. "This was a mistake. To come here." He looked around the apartment, not really seeing anything surrounding him. All he felt then was that this place, this part of him, was now in danger with him merely standing there. "I shouldn't have."

Beth reached out thoughtlessly as he moved his legs, as he wound away from her a step and faced the door once more. "Mick-"

He would get a hotel room. He'd find one somewhere, it wouldn't be a problem. He just needed to get away from this place, from her. If he stayed he didn't know what would happen, what he would do. Because being here, after everything that had already happened that day-

Mick looked behind him, down at her for a long moment as she lifted her face, her blue eyes gazing up at him.

And he realized he could do it. He could just let go, surrender everything he was and that she would accept him as he was, monster and all. She would take him as he was and she would love him and it broke his damned undead heart. That she could love a monster. He lifted a hand gingerly toward her jaw and then let it fall, refusing. No. He was a demon. Why couldn't she see that?

"I love you, Beth," he whispered to her painfully, feeling that pain deep down as if it suffocated him, as if it reached for him to silence him. And as her face cleared a bit, her lips parting he nodded, accepting it. "I love you…more than I should."

She stiffened, faltered.

Bending toward her, lifting his hands to grasp her face tenderly, he lifted her up and met her mouth, exhaling softly as he kissed her, as she returned his kiss breathessly, weak against him. "I love you," he whispered against her

mouth, against her as she reached for more, as she reached to hold on to him. And he felt that those words could never fully decipher what he was trying to say and what he felt. That he felt that she was such a painfully bright part of him, full of color and life. Pulsing with that life. She was sunlight to his shade.

And he couldn't step out into her light.

He kissed her still, his hand lifting from her cheek to settle horizontally across her eyes, covering them and hiding himself from her. And then, finally pulling away from her, he maintained his hand there, allowed her to breathe the same air he breathed, allowed her to breathe in his scent and feel him close.

And a moment later, no longer feeling his hand over her eyes, she opened them and discovered him gone, like the elusive ghost she had come to accept him as. Just like that he was gone from her apartment, gone from her, silent as a wraith.

And she was alone, on her knees, in the middle of her living room.

It wasn't until later that night, once she was curled in her bed and snapping awake from a nightmare, that she became aware of the intruder in her room.


	8. Sleep

**Chapter Seven - Sleep:**

* * *

_I'm having a hard time  
I'm making you do the hard time too.  
I'm stuck in a bad way  
And I'm gonna make you pay for it._

_All the World - Fauxliage_

* * *

Beth came awake in a sudden start, eyes opening in fear. And as she sat up reflexively, she became aware of the sudden pain and she hunched, her hand lifting to her face, her breath suddenly strained.

"Are you with us?" a quiet, accented voice asked.

Beth started, immediately scrambling back across the hard floor and into a corner. She drew her legs in warily, eyes scanning the darkness and she cried out, "Who is there?"

There was a small chuckle and the sudden onslaught of evil. Something moved in the blackness and she sensed an alien presence to her right, instinctively hunching her shoulders and turning her face from it. "I know what you are!" she cried into that blackness, still shielding her face. "I know what you are-"

A hand grasped her by the chin, forcing her to turn her head out into that darkness. "You have no _idea_ what I am," the voice whispered against her mouth, against her parted lips, and she cried out, flailing. Fisted hands and desperate kicks caught a hard form and a sudden blow to her face stilled her, silenced her in a moment, her breath catching in her throat at the unexpected explosion of white behind her closed eyes. "No _idea_, mortal."

Beth hunched over, tears springing up.

The presence beside her took hold of her once more, forcing her face up and even opening her eyes, she saw nothing in the darkness. "You are here and alive for one reason. One reason alone."

"What do you want?" she cried weakly, wincing painfully.

A breath crossed, caressed, her lips and she was aware that her captor was within inches of her, was breathing in her mortality and savoring it. "We want Josef Konstantin. And to get him, we want Mick St. John. I trust you recognize that name?"

Beth stared out blindly into darkness for a moment, dumbly. And then, "No. _No!"_ she shouted, feeling anger rise inside. "I will _not_ give you Mick-"

A second hand appeared in the black abyss, slipping in under the first hand and wrapping around her neck tightly. She instantly choked, her breath caught in mid-intake. "You do not have a choice, mortal! You have nothing here!"

Beth whimpered, her breath rattling and catching in the silence. Her hand came down on the arm attached to the hand encircling her neck and she brought her fist down on the forearm frantically, struggling for a breath.

_Mick-_

And then a second blow struck her in the face and she fell away into darkness.

* * *

Mick awoke with a start, splashing water. He had put himself back in a bathtub full of ice water and all the ice had melted, leaving behind a lukewarm bath at this time of morning. He had been exhausted upon arriving at the hotel and now he was just wet. And a little bit agitated. He stared at the ceiling for a long while, merely thinking. Dwelling on that last kiss. That had taken some balls, he thought with an inward smile. But he didn't regret it. Not one bit. But he would have to stop by and apologize for it. And for letting himself come clean. It had made him feel lighter but he doubted it had made her feel the same. Rising a bit, he paused, looking about the bathroom. Did she even sleep during the night? He hoped she had. He had fallen asleep like the walking dead after a long day of being in sunlight and with barely any blood. But as a mortal woman she had probably stayed up because of stress. He didn't want to be to blame for that.

Dressing himself, he floated out into the main room and packed up certain hotel amenities in a small towel, leaving everything ready should he feel the need to run once more. And he hesitated, uncertain. No. He had to go to see her. Maybe bring her a cup of coffee and talk to her once she was alert and once he had passed by the blood bank for a drink himself. Talk to her without alcohol in her system. But then, she hadn't had any alcohol in her when she had kissed him on the roof of the BuzzWire building.

He shook his head inwardly. He had no idea at all what to do. But at the same time he tingled all over as if she had just touched him, had just pressed herself to him and brushed her lips against his with unabashed desire. The same feeling as if he wanted to smile all day or merely float through the world without a care.

_I love her. And I told her I did._

Grabbing his jacket, he went for the door and let himself out, intent on speaking to her and explaining that it had all been a mistake.

* * *

Upon making it to her apartment he realized almost immediately that something was wrong. He came to the door, paused outside of it and lifted a hand to the frame, running his fingers across it gingerly, his other hand clutching a dark bag full of presents from Guillermo. What was this feeling? Bending a bit, his knuckles rapping the wooden door lightly, he leaned toward the door and strained to hear something. Anything. Even the deep breathing of a sleeping human. Or the small sounds of someone beginning their day.

But he heard nothing.

Bringing his hand down to the doorknob he turned it and broke the lock easily. He would pay for a replacement lock later. At the moment he had to be sure.

Letting himself in, he closed the door behind himself quietly and scanned the room. She had been not more than ten feet from where he now stood and if he looked down at that spot long enough he could almost imagine she waited for him still on her knees. He came in a few steps, merely staring at the spot. He should talk to her. And he didn't know how long the talk would take. Stepping sideways a bit, shaking himself from his reverie, he deposited the bag of blood on the kitchen counter, hoping she wouldn't mind. If their talk took a long while he would have to drink in front of her. She never seemed to mind when he did but certain things still felt awkward for him to do in front of her. The island was a bit cluttered with read mail and old bills, a small plain card set aside a bit. He looked at it for a moment but it was face down.

"Beth," he called out as he straightened away from it. And he turned about, glancing toward her bedroom. "Beth, it's me-"

Her bedroom door hung open on one hinge.

Staring, his jaw clenching, he went to the door and slipped around it, all senses at the ready, his muscles hard.

_Bad feeling, bad feeling, bad feeling-_

Scanning her room he found the covers pulled away as if they had been yanked, pooling on the floor in a haphazard mess. A lamp had been knocked over and some jewelry scattered. He went to the bed, hesitating beside it and he reached a hand out slowly, his fingers coming to rest on the soft surface as he inhaled deeply.

She had gone to sleep. Through a haze he watched as she had risen from the floor after he had left her, as she had gone into her bathroom and had tossed herself into a shower. And watching the small glimpses of her nude frame, he was not ashamed. The vision flashed to her in a towel, to her climbing into sweat pants and a sleeveless shirt, as she huddled under the covers and stared at the ceiling for a long time before sleeping.

And then darkness came for her. She had woken in the night, feeling that someone was in the room with her, someone she did not know and would not trust. And upon snapping awake, the intruder had struck her and yanked the covers back as she had flailed, had pulled her from the bed by her arm then her neck. And one final blow had rendered her unconscious, her frame falling limp.

Mick flashed back to the present, his breathing ragged and angry. Angry. He was _furious._ Storming out of her room he paused halfway into the living area and counted to ten before inhaling deeply once more. And this time he was witness to the man as he propped Beth's unconscious form over his shoulder, running a twisted hand up her calf where it hung beside his head and coming to a stop exactly where Mick now stood currently.

_"Mick St. John,"_ came his voice and Mick started, snapping clear out of the vision as he realized that the vampire knew. The vampire in his vision knew he himself had visions. Fighting the cold shiver that raced down his spine, Mick closed his eyes once more, inhaling, head twisting to the side with the deep breath.

_"I have your mortal,"_ the vampire said quietly, his voice brusque. Sinister. _"I'm leaving you an address. If you would be so kind as to bring us Josef Konstantin, we'll gladly give her back to you. I'll try not to…"_ the vampire hesitated, cocking his head a bit against Beth's hip, _"take a bite. I would hate to ruin my dinner."_

Mick held on to the vision, struggling not to let his anger shove him away from the images yet.

The vampire took a step toward Beth's kitchen island and pulled forth a small card from his jacket pocket, depositing it on the hard surface.

Finally snapping out of the vision, Mick dashed toward the kitchen island and slammed his hand down on the white card, flipping it about immediately. He knew the address printed on the other side, recognized it as being part of the torn down warehouse district. He hesitated, his hand shaking slightly. He wouldn't take Josef. It was exactly what they wanted. One person in exchange for another. And in the end the chances that they would merely take Josef and give him back Beth were slim. No doubt if he brought Josef with him there would be three dead instead of two. No. He wouldn't involve Josef. He would go himself and see about getting Beth back on his own. Pulling out his cell he dialed Josef's number quickly, heading for the door.

* * *

There was no answer. He had left Josef two messages and had called repeatedly but there was no answer. Mick hesitated as he pulled up into the warehouse district, his eyes scanning the dilapidated buildings, feeling almost as defeated as they looked. It was dark out. The morning sun would rise in a couple of hours. Which was good and bad if he could get out alive with Beth. All around bad for vampires.

Parking his vehicle, he dropped his cell phone into the glove compartment and climbed out slowly. Scanning the addresses, he began to float down the block a bit, looking about. Perhaps this would be a better search from the roof. Pausing beside a warehouse, he glanced straight up and caught sight of an old flagpole protruding from the face of the wall. Quickly glancing around to make sure he was alone, he dug his feet down under him and then sprang, easily making the two stories to the flagpole. Catching it in his grip he hung suspended for a moment then hoisted himself onto it, wobbling for a moment before regaining his balance. And he looked up once more. Three more stories. Not too hard a jump. Five stories he wouldn't have made in one jump. This he could do. Readying himself along the pole, he jumped once more and caught the edge of the warehouse roof, his hands curling and securing him to the side. With a silent breath he lifted himself up and over, resting on the roof and glancing over the side to gauge the distance. A few seconds. Not too bad.

Lifting himself from the roof, he looked around in the darkness. All was silent. Much too silent. He got low to the surface under his feet and moved on, crossing from roof to roof, looking across the old streets to make sure he was keeping up with the addresses. After a long silent trek he paused. If the number of the warehouse across the street was correct, it meant that the warehouse under him was-

A small sound behind him alerted him to the fact that he was not alone and just as he whirled a loud explosion of sound went off. A sudden pain flashed across his chest and he felt himself go down roughly, vampire teeth springing to life as he crashed. For a moment he held himself tight, the sting streaking and throbbing across his chest and as a footstep sounded close he opened his eyes. And his vision wavered strangely.

"What the-"

Lifting a hand to his chest slowly, he pressed his palm to his wound, not understanding.

_It's just a gunshot. I've been shot before-_

And as his hand came away he became aware of his blood and something else in the gunshot residue. He forced his eyes to focus for a moment, long enough to see the silver in the dark stain of the gunshot marks. And with an angry hiss he felt himself lose consciousness in a blur of pain and blackness.

* * *


	9. Break

Sorry it's been a bit. Trying to keep up. Bear with me please. :)

**Chapter Eight – Break:**

_Run away, run away  
Like a prodigal.  
Don't you wait for me.  
Don't you wait for me.  
So ashamed, so ashamed,  
But I need you so.  
And you wait for me  
And you wait for me._

_Prodigal – OneRepublic_

He was dying. Sprawled in the cold cell, his pale yellow eyes sliding once more to the sunlight that came in full force, he dragged his legs backward, feeling as if every single part of him, every limb, itched and bled. He breathed heavily, gasping, his fingers clawing and digging into solid stone floor underneath his weakened frame. The cell was large enough to house him but also large enough to allow enough sunlight through the barred window, the midday rays feeling as if they meant to sear his flesh from his bones. His lips parted and then came fully open, a wrathful hiss issuing forth. He wouldn't last much longer in this prison.

And they knew it. They knew all there was of vampires and they were going to kill him here. After having been thrown in the cell he had been questioned, over and over, by vampires. Each one more menacing than the last.

But he wasn't afraid of vampires. If there was anyone to fear it was the vampire with the amber eyes. But he had not seen him in the bit of time he had been incarcerated here.

He had asked for Beth. Had demanded Beth. Had begged for information about Beth, to know that she was alive. They wouldn't tell him. They had more fun torturing him. They had even threatened to kill her, which had sprung a small hope in him that she lived. But even when that had brought no information on Josef they had let that tease fall away, instead focusing on breaking him.

His gaze darted to the bars of the cell and he refused to touch them. One stupid gesture, the caress of his fingers over those bars had caused him to rear back and growl. The bars were silver and also coated in a silver dust. He had felt pure fury course through him when his fingers had come in contact with the bars, had felt such anger that he had wanted to tear flesh from bone, skin from muscle. Pure visions of unadulterated madness had swept through him and he had, at that moment that the silver had overpowered him, barely managed to restrain himself from tearing into the walls, into the floors like a rabid animal. They had been kind enough to remove the bullet dipped in silver from his chest. He had discovered later they had done it to torture him further. They needed him alive. Hopefully broken but alive nonetheless. They wanted Josef. He wasn't going to give them Josef.

But now he was stranded. He avoided the sunlight just barely, managing to squeeze into a corner as the sun made its way across the sky outside, as it shed its rays into the cell. He had burrowed into one corner and then another as the rays had moved and they teased him with scraps of bloody flesh, tossing it into his cell periodically.

They knew.

But not today. Today they had not given him anything and even when they did grace him it was not enough for him to regain his full strength. Only enough to survive, his form pressed to the cold shadowed floor, heaving for a single painless breath. But not today. As of yet they had not given him anything to feed on. To derive strength from. And perhaps today would be the day that he finally died.

He would welcome death. Eighty five years was such a long time.

There was movement, a shuffle of feet, a small feminine sound and his eyes came open in slits, his lips unconsciously parting, sharp canines springing forth and sharpening involuntarily in the heat of the day. He couldn't see even though he could hear something coming and his skin prickled when he heard the door to his gated cell unlock and open. Something shifted and then crashed roughly to the floor before him, uttering a muffled cry and then the cell door was slammed shut and locked, the silver once more in place. He exhaled, his vision blurred, hissing. Someone was close to him. He could sense it. And the scent of the individual was-

Sweet. And recognizable.

He grimaced, trying to place the scent. He couldn't. It seemed like a far off dream, he couldn't place that scent. Only that it reminded him of better times, of comfort. He reached a hand out senselessly, needing that comfort, needing to be elsewhere, another place and time.

_Beth._

The creature close by shifted once more, dragging and he couldn't focus, couldn't see what it was.

_Just do it. Just end me. Please._

And the creature, the person with him in the cell let loose a small whimper, a sob.

"Mick."

He was losing it finally. It sounded like her. Like Beth. The mere thought of her brought a vision of blond and blue, gold and Egyptian blue. Hair and eyes. A smile. An innocent look over a pale shoulder that was powerful enough in its purity to be painfully arousing. Human and untouched to his immortality, to his stain. Beth. He flinched, his shoulder hunching in against himself, body folding in.

"Mick!"

A moment later cool hands closed over his face, small fingers grasping his jaw and forcing his face up. His vision was still blurred, he couldn't see. The hands shifted, one settling over his forehead and he exhaled into the cool skin, his eyes pale through slitted eyelids, tinted yellow.

"Mick. Mick. Do you hear me? Can you understand me?" From above him came the gentle but frantic voice, another cool hand trailing his cheek, trembling.

_Beth._

"Mick...please..."

His vision swam and then sharply focused, aware momentarily of the person leaning over him and it was her. With her blond curls, her eyes red with tears. He never wanted to see her cry. He made a small sound as she came closer, squeezing in beside him and then lifting his shoulders to rest across her bent legs. No. To rest against her, his jaw pressed to her breast. Her face blurred above him, her eyes sliding shut as she wept and she held him fiercely, sobbing silently.

"Please wake up..."

She wasn't real. But her scent. She felt so very real. He turned his face from her, growling like a damn wounded animal and a cool hand brought his face back to gaze upward, his shifting eyes sweeping from dark blue to pale white. He had no control, he realized dimly. He was so tired, so weak. And that scent. That scent.

Fingers curled into his jaw, into his damp hair and held there roughly, his face being forced upward. And he hissed against his will, allowed the animalistic sound to issue forth quietly.

"Mick..."

_Beth._

"Please."

He shook his head inwardly. No. No no no.

"This is what they want, Mick," came her voice from above and strangely, even as she spoke he was repeating her, saying those exact words in his own head.

_This is what they want..._

""Mick. This is what they want," she said again and she came into focus as he managed to finally see her, as he smelled her and recognized her. Her pale skin, bruised. Her fingers dragged across his face, trailed across his lips as they parted, as he made the kind of sound only a wounded feline would make. "Please...this is what they want..."

Almost blindly he focused on her, thoughtlessly, his eyes taking in such paleness, the dark blue and purple of old blood through that light skin, close to her trembling mouth, skirting her eye. And she brought him a measure of comfort, brought him to the present with her tears. His lips closed ever so slightly, falling to close over his fangs, his eyes shifting from white to dark blue but still encased in yellow, and she smiled above, the expression strained.

"This is what they want..."

He breathed raspily, harshly, chest heaving. "Beth."

And she sent him a full smile even as tears fell down her cheeks, even as her heart seemed to break above him. "It's me."

He shook his head at her, his chest tight. "No blood...there's no blood..." And even as he said it he was abruptly aware of her, aware of her cheeks as they suddenly flushed, the pure scent of her blood mingling with her natural scent. And he felt it take over, felt as if every single part of him was suddenly electrified, tingling and alive with sensation. He stared, his eyes darting about blindly, focusing on her face and then sweeping to her neck. And the mere thought, while it sent a wave of revulsion through him, intoxicated him as well. His eyes shifted upward and as he met her eyes he was unexpectedly aware that she understood. That she had understood from the beginning, since having been tossed into his cell.

_They did this. This is what they want..._

She stared at him wordlessly, her dark eyes searching his face and she managed another strained smile for him. "Mick."

And upon realizing it he felt pure anger explode. _"No!"_ And he took hold of her with clawed hands, dug them into her shoulder and tried to shove her away, tried to get away from her. From that scent of her, of her blood and her skin. She cried out, wincing as his fingers clamped down on her and she closed her eyes, suddenly struggling with him as if he was a rabid animal.

"Mick!"

_"Get away from me!"_ he shouted at her and she had no choice but to release him as he swiped at her, a hand catching her across the face without meaning to, the other hand shoving her backward against the cold wall. A grimace spread across her face as she fell against the wall and the force rendered her limp for a small moment, her vision white.

Then, adamant and regaining her senses, she rose from the wall and lunged at him as he pulled himself onto his side, attempting to pull away from her. Her hands closed around his shoulders, arms enveloping him and he was assaulted by her scent, his mouth mindlessly opening, fangs springing forth almost angrily.

_"No!"_

Her weight brought him easily chest first to the floor, pinning him and he hissed at her, a growl reverberating underneath his dragging hiss.

"Don't do this..." he whispered against the cold floor, one of his shoulders in the relentless heat of the sun's rays. "Don't. _Don't-"_

Squeezing her eyes shut against his back, Beth bit back a sob, grasping his weary yet stiff frame to her, her weight settled firmly on top of him. "I want it," she cried to him frantically. "I want it. I _want_ it-"

Mick shook his head against the floor, his shoulders trembling wordlessly.

"I do," she said against his heaving back, pressing her cheek to his shoulders. "I do. I want it. I want it for you. I want..."

His eyes came open in slits, the blue of his irises fading away into pure white once more as she spoke against him, his jaw clenching, his teeth closing together as he growled faintly, a long drawn out rumble.

"I want you," Beth whispered against him, her breath a gentle breeze across his back.

And without a word, with silence following his movements, he whirled on her, his back brushing across the cold floor, his hands taking hold of her shoulders in a painful grip. She stared at him as he faced her, her blue eyes wide for a moment and held by his pale gaze fearfully. And then her eyes slid shut and he had her, his mouth opening, his fangs sinking into her neck, one hand sliding up her shoulder to take hold of her hair and yanking. She made a small sound, halfway between terror and longing and fell limply into his embrace, her chest lifting against his, her head falling back as he pulled, dragged her head back further. He needed complete access, needed to dig deep into her with nothing in the way.

And she tasted like heaven.


	10. Escape

Escape:

**Escape:**

When she awoke, she could not for the life of her remember where she was. Her eyes sliding open slowly, brushing across cold ground, she grimaced for a small moment, her eyes skirting the hard surface under her cheek. And then, feeling every memory sink into place, she sprang up, gasping. A moment after that she was overcome with a strange dizziness and she faltered, leaning her weight down on both hands as her arms struggled to hold her up.

A presence beside her startled her but she did not pull away as she was washed with the scent and feeling of Mick.

"How do you feel?" he asked her, his hand coming down to cup the back of her neck gently.

She hesitated before answering. "A bit dizzy but ok," she replied and she turned her head to look at him, her expression strained. "How are _you?"_

He gazed at her for a long moment in silence. And then his face gave way to a lighthearted smile. "I'm perfect," he answered, his hand sliding sideways and up a bit to wrap around her face, his thumb brushing aside a lock of blond hair.

She returned the gaze, her smile faint. "Good."

He chuckled at her response, his wavy hair settling across his temple and it only did that when he had been banged up, when he had been through something physical beforehand. She had never realized until that point how he tried to keep his appearance until that very moment. Right then and there he looked battered and bruised. But not beaten. And for that she was thankful. And her smile widened even more so, merely gazing at him.

"We have to get out of here," he said to her then.

She felt herself fall back down to Earth. "Yes," she said with a nod and she lifted herself to sit up straight, settling on her rear as Mick rose and examined the bars of the cell.

"Silver coated," he murmured, most likely to her. He didn't bother reaching out to double check it and she realized it was probably because he had already done it once, before she had been tossed into his cell, no doubt. Her eyes followed him as he peeked out of the cell silently and then floated over to the only window in the room, moonlight filtering in. He gazed out thoughtfully, his eyes narrowing. "We're facing the back from this window."

Beth stared at him wordlessly.

"These are also silver coated," he continued, his eyes falling to the bars lining the back window. "And the bars themselves are silver. I can't bypass these."

Beth lowered her eyes away, thinking furiously past the dizziness. The room was meant to hold vampires. They would have to escape via a mortal mistake. Or an immortal mistake. She reached a hand out silently, her eyes closing as she contemplated escape. He took her hand a moment later, startling her for a moment as she had not been expecting his warm grasp even though she had been reaching for it. Her eyes came open, meeting his, and there was a moment of utter silence between them, her lips parting.

He came back toward her a step, his face unreadable for a slight moment. But she could guess as to what was there, hidden in his eyes. What he feared. It was what _she_ feared.

"We're getting out of here," he said to her softly, firmly.

She gazed at him, as he took another step forward, her hand lifting with the gesture in his grasp. "I know," she replied quietly, her blue eyes shining. And she pulled on his hand, dragging him closer to her.

He went silently, coming to stand before her, his hand caught around hers. When she tugged gently yet again he fell slowly to his knees in front of her, his eyes fixed on her face and the sight of him in such a way before her made her heart flutter. The expression on his face as he kneeled in front of her. As if he had come to worship. She stared at him in silence, her fingers curling in his grasp.

And she spoke, softly and urgently, through her dizziness as a desperate plan formed in her head.

* * *

It was hours still before someone came to their cell. She had made him feign unconsciousness to the point that, even in the quiet gloom of their prison, they had found their situation almost laughable. He'd ask how long she thought he would have to stay face down on the floor, especially if the sun rose. She'd told him to move out of the moonlight a bit so as to conserve some strength for when the sun came, if they were still in the same predicament. Laughter in the face of fear.

"It's a story to tell the grandkids one day," she had murmured and he had fallen silent then. But she had known, had sensed it in the air.

He would have given anything to have been able to tell any story to his grandkids.

The guard that came seemed more mercenary than anything else. Someone paid to do a job. Slightly jumpy for a vampire, yes. But still, nothing but a hired hand.

"He won't feed on me," Beth said to the vampire guard as he inched near, his eyes sweeping into the cell and washing over Mick's seemingly unconscious body in the middle of the cell. Curled beside the silver bars, Beth looked up at the guard with an imploring expression, her voice tremulous.

Mick congratulated her inwardly on her display of emotion. More than just an online journalist, he smirked against the cold floor.

"Well, wake him and force him," the vampire ordered and he reached out to the bars as he spoke roughly.

Beth's eyes flew to his gloved hands as his fingers wrapped around the silver bars. They were immediately coated in the fine silver dust as he shifted them across the bars angrily. "I _can't,"_ she said to him. "He won't do it. You don't know him like I do, he won't-"

"I know enough to know that if he's hungry all he needs is a sniff of you," the vampire growled at her and he bent, reaching through the bars and taking hold of her by the chin. Beth grimaced, immediately attempting to pull away from him but he yanked her head toward him, cracking her head lightly against the bars. She winced and her eyes opened to glare at him, her jaw clenched. "Now," he hissed against her ear, sounding like a slithering snake. "Go over to him and wake him up."

Beth swallowed, feeling his words like a disease running through her and when he shoved her away she stumbled back, her hand catching her frame on the floor. With a look, she turned from the vampire at the cell door and crawled over toward Mick, reaching a hand out slowly toward his shoulder dubiously.

"Mick?"

He didn't respond, his lips parted against the floor, dark hair curling against his temple.

Tightening her lips into a firm line for a moment, Beth curled her legs under her and then reached out with the other hand as well, wrapping one hand around his shoulder, the other around the back of his neck. "Mick, please wake up," she said quietly, leaning over him and coming close enough to press her cheek to his back, just between his shoulder blades. "Please."

He still did not respond, his body limp in the half light of the moonlight that filtered in gently.

"Mick?" she asked again faintly and she jumped when the guard at the door suddenly stomped furiously. She twisted her head up at him and felt a momentary stab of terror when he reached into his pocket and pulled forth a set of keys.

_Don't freak out. He's doing exactly what you want him to do…_

She felt the moment Mick tensed, her fingers still cupping the back of his neck. As the key was driven home and the cell door slid open with a clang, she backed away fearfully, refusing to let go of Mick even as the guard stormed in, fangs leaping to a point in his open mouth. With a hiss, the vampire took hold of Beth and for a moment his pale eyes strayed to her neck, hesitating. Only for a moment. Long enough to catch on the two fang marks healing there. The light eyes snaked up to her neck and as he understood, fury coursing through him, he shoved her backward roughly. Beth crashed onto her back, barely managing to miss cracking her head on the floor.

With a growl Mick was suddenly up, one hand snaking out and taking hold of the vampire under the chin. The other took hold of his arm as it flailed, surprise flitting across the vampire's face at finding himself caught.

"I would be very careful touching her," Mick said to him softly, almost gently. "I wouldn't want to piss me off." And with one forceful gesture he threw the vampire backward, immediately following as the vampire slammed against the cell bars. Hissing, baring sharp canine teeth, Mick caught him once more as he slid down across the bars and he forced the vampire's head to face the bars, flipping him and holding him there.

A monstrous snarl issued forth from the vampire as his face came in contact with the silver, as he inhaled pure silver dust. Beth rose onto her rear, staring fearfully and she was the one who caught the long slender object strapped to the side of the vampire's leg. Rising quickly she scrambled over to the pair of struggling vampires, ripping the ornamental stake from the vampire's leg.

"Do it," Mick said to her as she looked at him and he backed away from him enough to leave her an opening, still holding the vampire's face to the bars as he shrieked in pure animalistic anger.

With a wince, Beth shifted the stake in her hand and stabbed blindly, feeling sick to her stomach as it entered the vampire from behind.

She had done it only once, this cruel method of detainment. And she had done it to Mick's ex-wife.

"Good shot!" Mick said with a wide smile as the vampire immediately stiffened, eyes widening against the cell bars.

Beth didn't even know how to respond to that.

A moment later she didn't care as Mick threw a hand out and pulled her backward as the vampire teetered for a second then fell stiffly onto his back, fingers curling into his body rigidly. They stared down at him for a long silent moment, Beth barely able to breathe. She had rammed the stake with such fear that it had stabbed clear through, a bit of the edge puncturing the vampire's chest.

"Oh my God," she uttered, a hand lifting to her mouth.

Mick reached down behind himself, picking up the set of keys the vampire had let fall to the floor and he looked at her for a moment, his hand reaching out blindly. "I'm thrilled you're on my side," he said to her in what she could only think of as an affectionate tone. A moment later he was yanking her after him as he raced through the doors of the cell and out into the hallway, heading back the way the vampire had come.

"We can't go-" Beth said to him, her heart pounding as they flew down a long hallway, passing several more cells along the way to the door at the end of the dark corridor.

Mick threw her a look of disbelief over his shoulder. "Yes, we can," he stated, hair curling around his cheek as they ran. "We absolutely can."

"We can't!" Beth cried as they reached the door and Mick gave it a tug. "We have to find out who is doing all this, who is after Josef! We have to-"

"No!" Mick shouted at her firmly, causing her to recoil slightly in surprise. "There is no way I am going to sneak around in here to find out who this guy is. Another way. Not like this. Not with you here." He looked through the keys for a moment in confusion and then just began to try one after the other, five in total.

Beth gazed at him, willing him to understand. "Mick, this is your best chance. He's here, somewhere, this vampire that wants Josef. You can find him! You can _stop_ him-"

"He's too strong," Mick said softly, bringing her to a stop in mid-sentence. He had found the key but now he hesitated, having released her hand to try the keys and now just resting one against the cold iron door, the other holding the key in place. "He's too strong, Beth. I can feel it. In the visions. I can feel how…_angry_ he is. And it makes him stronger. Too strong." He turned to look at her over his shoulder, his dark eyes straying and catching on hers. "And I can't do it with you here. I won't."

Beth gazed at him. "I'll wait here then," she whispered to him. "I'll stay out of the way. I'll wait in the cell. Anything. Just _please._ Find out who he is and stop him. There are people _dying-"_

"No."

And with that one word Mick unlocked the door, took hold of her hand and headed out in the darkness of the warehouse.

* * *

They had made it to the roof. Somehow, in the blackness of their prison, they had staggered up flights of stairs, sensing no life anywhere. Nor undead life. Just nothing. They had crashed through one last door that had led out onto the last flight of stairs right before the roof.

And only then had he sensed the vampires coming. Many of them. His frame had tensed in that moment as he and Beth had hesitated on that silent landing, looking up at the door that beckoned them to their freedom.

"They're coming," Mick had whispered and she had made a small sound at his statement, drawing close to him. And so, with vampires chasing them, they had raced up that last flight, had burst through out into the moonlight and he stopped at the edge of the roof, looking down.

"I can't make that."

"When we do this I'm either going to dislocate or break an arm. Which means you-"

She was beautiful. She was so beautiful. Moonlight washing over her pale and bruised face.

_"I trust you."_

"This is nothing." Said with a small smile, meaning to comfort her. To stop her from ever being afraid because it broke his heart to see her ever be afraid.

"This is everything," she had whispered, tears shining there in her blue, blue eyes, her blond hair shimmering in the light of the moon as she had ducked against him in fear. But in trust.

And he fell backward, off the edge of the roof.


	11. The Dark Road

**A/N: I'm aware it's been a while. At the moment I'm trying to concentrate on finishing this fic while simultaneously updating Echoes of Summer. It's a bit tough but I'm trying to keep up and just get these stories off my plate. So if you're still reading, enjoy. It's a short chapter compared to the next one. :)**

**

* * *

**

**Chapter Ten – The Dark Road**

**

* * *

**

_Lost till you're found,  
Swim till you drown,  
Know that we all fall down.  
Love till you hate,  
Jump till you break,  
Know that we all fall down.  
All Fall Down – OneRepublic_

_

* * *

_

He felt the air slide through his hair, felt it all as it slid past him, a breath of air, as faint as a lover's touch. It all went past him, his eyes closing for a moment as he held Beth to him and fell. And then his eyes immediately snapped open and he focused, in that eternal moment, that one moment that felt so long yet slipped past him like a thought. He looked over his shoulder, aware of Beth's hair in his peripheral and he gauged the distance, released Beth with one hand to ready himself.

A second later he had let go of her with his remaining hand and then, reaching, his fingers curled around the hard metal of the flagpole and he felt it. He felt as his weight, as their combined weight was pressed on his one arm and he took it, a cry breaking from him. Immediately grasping the flagpole he lifted his free arm and instantly switched grasps, his stronger hand wrapping around the flagpole as his dislocated arm fell away limply.

Beth let out a muffled sound, her arms turning to steel as they were abruptly halted in their fall and Mick clenched his jaw, biting back the pain that threatened to overwhelm him angrily. He hung suspended from the one arm, Beth buried against his neck and frame and he allowed himself a moment to accept the pain, to allow it to wash over him. Out of place, his arm would need to be popped back in before he could heal from it. And hanging like this, it would be impossible for either him or Beth to set it. His eyes came open slowly, his irises having been forced from blue to pale white. Any change in self, from either pain, desire or hunger brought the change upon him and this was no different. His eyesight was stronger when he allowed the shift and he scoped the area above, the area he had just fallen from. They hadn't reached the edge yet. Bringing his eyes down to his chest he nudged Beth a bit with his shoulder and she lifted her head from his neck, gasping as she encountered pale eyes.

"Are you with me?" he asked her and he knew it was not a mistake that he felt his fangs slowly sliding out and enlarging.

Beth gazed at him, her expression caught halfway between something that resembled wistfulness and fear. "I'm always with you, Mick," she whispered, her arms tight around his neck.

He managed a small turn of his lips, the ghost of a smile for her and her eyes strayed to his lips as he did so, seemingly caught by his fangs. "Ok. Hold on to me. I need to let go. And I need you to help me reset my arm."

A frown crossed her face but she nodded nonetheless, her lips parting. "Just tell me what to do and when," she said to him, forcing a strong tone.

He found it endearing, that she would attempt a strong front for him. His eyes shifting upward, he surveyed the area above before glancing below. The ground was a mere two stories. He could handle two stories. His gaze came back to rest on hers confidently and he said in an offhand remark, "I might break a leg finishing this so-"

A small sound came from Beth, her eyes sliding shut as if he had inflicted pain on her.

He chucked inwardly and said to her softly, against her ear, "I've broken a leg before. It's nothing."

Beth grimaced at his words but her eyes came open nonetheless and focused on him once more, her gaze steady yet shaky.

"If I happen to break a leg I first need you to reset my arm. We'll need to stop, no matter what," he said to her, staring at her with pale eyes. "I can't protect you with one good arm and one good leg. I need myself intact. So I need you to pop my arm back in its socket and I need you to give me a minute. We'll find an alley or something to rest. Ok?"

She nodded dumbly, caught in his stare.

He smiled at her once more, mirthlessly. "Ready?"

And as if finally coming back to herself, Beth nodded firmly, her arms tightening once more around his neck. "Ready."

And with a slight nod to her, Mick released the pole.

He felt the instant she stiffened once more against him. Feeling the air sweep around him, he prepared himself and with his good arm he grasped Beth under her rear, hefting her up against him. She let out a small squeak as he did so and a moment later he hit the ground, his legs bending and taking the fall perfectly under him. Beth found herself straddling him, legs locked tightly around his waist and for a moment they merely held together, her heart pounding loudly enough in his ear to deafen him. And then, as if struck, she straightened from him, gazing down at him, her arms still wrapped around his neck forcefully.

He looked up at her, dropping to one knee in one movement and the look in her eyes was enough to freeze him and almost arouse him. She was breathing rashly, her breaths coming erratically and he brought his eyes down to her lips, feeling as if he could see each of her breaths issuing forth.

One perfect moment, cradling her. It was all he could have ever asked of any God. He held his breath stiffly, lips parted, gazing up at her as he settled her on his bent knee and he lifted his good arm, a finger brushing aside an errant tendril of hair from her mouth.

"Your arm," she suddenly whispered and she moved, bringing her face away from him as she unlocked her legs. Looking up at the roof as she did so, she quickly crouched beside him and said, "tell me what to do! Quick!"

Mick snapped from the pink haze he had floated into and nodded quickly, swallowing. "Here. Just hold my arm, like this," he instructed her and he grimaced as she took hold of it with a firm grip. "I'll pop it back in, you just hold it."

"Ok," she whispered reluctantly. And she shut her eyes tightly, fighting back the small sound that fought to break as he readied himself and then made one small but jerky move, a growl rumbling from him as the limb settled back in place.

"Damn that hurts," he murmured with a shake of his head.

"Come on," she urged him, feeling like the vilest person in existence as she rose to her feet and pulled on his shirt collar. "I can hear them up there, they'll be on us in a second-"

With a nod, Mick rose and did not fight her when she locked her fingers through his. Together they took off, Beth leading and Mick halted her after several moments, scanning the area. "No," he whispered, wincing. "This way. I left the car parked-"

Beth caught sight of his vehicle with a nod. "I see it, I see it," she said quickly and she dug her hand into his jacket pocket as she ran, fishing out his keys. "I've never been so happy to see a damn set of keys…"

Mick chuckled as they ran, slowing them a bit. "Just get it started, hurry," he ordered and he pushed her on, grimacing as his arm stung. It was on its way to healing but the mere pain of it slowed him. He inhaled deeply, fighting the pain down and she looked at him over her shoulder before running ahead, quickly fumbling with the keys before letting herself in and immediately starting the vehicle.

"Hurry," she uttered quietly, almost begging him, as he reached the car and slipped in. "Please, hurry, hurry, hurry-"

The car started up without issue and Mick slammed his door shut, Beth following suit a moment later. "Just go," he ordered, and he scanned the area, the roof above, his jaw clenched. "I don't see anyone but just go. Back it up all the way and then turn it around and-"

"On it," Beth stated and a moment later, without bothering to look if any pedestrians could be in the way, she threw the vehicle into reverse, backing up the block with a squeal of rubber before wheeling the car around then pealing off into the night with angry tires.

* * *

Beth didn't bother to ask him where to go. She immediately headed for her home, her eyes worried in the night lights of the city and Mick couldn't help himself but gaze at her as those lights were reflected in her eyes. Almost beautiful, shining there. He inhaled deeply, releasing his arm, and it was good as new now as he made a firm fist and then opened it gingerly.

"Do you think your apartment is a good idea?" he asked her quietly.

She did not respond for a long time, swallowing soundlessly. "I have nowhere else to go, Mick," she whispered and she said nothing more to that.

Mick stared at her, feeling his heart almost break. And he wanted to say that she had him to come to, whenever she needed.

But she didn't.

"I have nothing to offer you, Beth," he said to her softly.

Her hands tightened on the steering wheel, her eyes blank.

And even as he reached out to her, his fingers wrapping around hers on the steering wheel as she drove, she murmured painfully, "I've never wanted anything else from anyone." She closed her eyes for a moment before looking ahead of her once more, steering carefully. "But don't ever tell me you have nothing to offer me. You're the _only_ one who can ever give me everything I've ever wanted-"

"No, damnit," he cut her off and he yanked one hand off the steering wheel, forcing her to look at him quickly in disbelief. "Do you _see?_ Do you see what the hell just happened, Beth?" he cried angrily and she stared at him, eyes widening. "This is what I have to offer you! This! All this _crap!_ Is this what you want? Is this what you _want_?" he demanded. And he allowed her to take her hand back, quickly looked ahead once more but he lifted away from his seat, facing her head on. "Do you want to run? Always? For the rest of your life, in this car? Do you want to always run? Because _this_ is what I can offer you, Beth! This is my life and this is what I am! Is this what you _want-_"

"Yes!" she shouted, cutting him off and forcing him to rear back in disbelief. "Yes! This is what I want! I want you! I want _us!_ If you're always running then yes! Take me with you! Wherever you go! Take me with you! Just don't _leave_!"

Mick stared at her, stunned into silence, into disbelief at her outburst. The lights of the city swept past him in that small eternity of silence, his heart coming to a dead stop in his chest. And he gazed at her as she propped a hand against her car side window, dropping her head into it as she drove, her bottom lip trembling.

"You don't know what you're asking," he whispered. And he turned in the seat once more, merely facing ahead and settling into silence.

And she let him for a long while, allowed him to be quiet and did not break the stillness. Navigating, she merely stared ahead in her own brokenhearted silence, her breathing harsh even to her own ears. And then, slowing, she abruptly brought the vehicle to a stop on a side road and turned off the engine, staring blankly at the keys for a long moment.

"Why are we stopping here?" he asked her, lifting a hand to rub his eyes wearily.

She hesitated, her eyes caught, before she lifted them to gaze at him. And he was already staring at her, his eyes hooded. Carefully, as if wondering whether it was a good idea to even speak to him, she turned a bit in the seat to face him and said quietly, "I meant…what I said back there."

He gazed at her silently, his head cocked a bit as he rested his own head on the hand propped against the passenger side window.

"About taking me with you," she went on. "I meant it. All of it. Maybe I came out a bit harsh but I don't know if you realized that the last few days have been a bit…hard on me. But I'm aware of what I'm saying. And I mean everything I say."

Mick merely continued to look at her in silence, his eyes shining in the gleam of a far off street light. And she saw herself reflected in those eyes, saw how wide her own were at the moment as she spoke to him earnestly. She waited for him, rigid, waiting on him to say something. Anything at all.

Sighing inwardly, quietly, Mick closed his eyes for a long moment, rubbing them wearily with long and tired fingers. And then he straightened, seeming suddenly old even for his age. Turning a bit toward her he reached out and took both her hands into his, holding them between his palms and finding them cold. Thoughtlessly he began to rub them, silently, and Beth found herself gazing down at their hands, together, and feeling her heart swell almost to breaking. Her face saddened as he merely rubbed them and they sat in that stillness for a long time, Beth's eyes sliding closed, her hair slowly falling down her shoulders as she bowed her head.

Slowing a bit, causing her to lift her head expectantly, Mick parted his lips to speak hesitantly. And even before saying anything he separated her hands, holding one and dropping it to his knee. And the other he lifted to his chest, pressing it to his heart. Beth stared at it, her mouth tight in a pained line, her other hand in his stiff.

"If anything were to happen to me, Beth," he began quietly, almost reluctantly, "I wouldn't take you with me. Ever."

Beth's eyes darted up to meet his, her mouth falling open in disbelief. And she could only stare as he released her hand, then both of them, turning in his seat to face forward once more and ending whatever conversation she might have wanted to hold.


End file.
